•NRLF 


B    3    350    E7fi 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


LIFE  OF  JOM  RANDOLPH. 


VOL.  I. 


• 


EVORXZKO  £y  J-.SAHTAfJV. 


if^l  11"  Cuj  [L  fFJ  iHl 


THE  LIFE 


OP 


JOHN    KANDOLPH 


OF   EOANOKE. 


BY 

HUGH  A.   OAKLAND. 


VOL.  I. 


KEW-YOKK: 
D.  APPLETON  &  COMPANY,  200  BROADWAY. 

PHILADELPHIA: 
GEO.  S.  APPLETON,  164  CHESNUT-STREET. 

M.DCCC.L. 


ENTERED,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1850,  by 

D.  APPLETON  &  COMPANY, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of  New- York. 


PREFACE. 

THE  author  of  this  book  has  had,  perhaps,  as  good  an  oppor 
tunity  as  any  other  man,  who  was  not  a  contemporary  and 
intimate  friend,  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  Mr.  Eandolph's 
character,  and  also  to  collect  valuable  and  copious  materials 
for  his  biography.  He  was  educated  in  Mr.  Eandolph's 
district,  was  familiar  with  all  the  local  associations  of  that 
devoted  son  of  the  Old  Dominion,  often  saw  him  among 
his  beloved  constituents,  and  heard  him  under  most  favor 
able  circumstances  both  on  the  hustings  and  in  the  Virginia 
Convention.  The  writer  was  then  but  a  youth,  full  of  all 
the  eager  interest  and  curiosity  that  would  naturally  be 
excited  by  so  extraordinary  a  man.  Since  Mr.  Eandolph's 
death,  it  has  been  his  good  fortune  to  have  been  thrown  into 
the  circle  of  his  most  intimate  and  confidential  friends,  some 
of  whom  the  writer  feels  justified  in  saying  he  also  may  claim 
as  his  friends.  "While  the  thought  of  writing  a  life  of  Mr. 
Eandolph  is  of  recent  date,  the  character  of  the  man  and  the 
incidents  of  his  life  have  been  for  many  years  the  subject  of 
interest  and  of  inquiry,  which  were  abundantly  gratified  by 
those  who  knew  him  and  delighted  to  discourse  on  the 
peculiarities  and  eccentricities  of  their  departed  friend. 

Some  ten  or  twelve  years  before  his  death,  Mr.  Eandolph 


yi  PREFACE. 

made  a  will  liberating  his  slaves ;  a  short  time  before  his  de 
cease,  while  under  the  influence  of  utter  debility  and  disease, 
he  made  various  and  conflicting  dispositions  of  his  property. 
Here,  of  course,  was  a  fruitful  theme  for  the  Courts.  Was  Mr. 
Randolph  capable  of  making  a  will  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
life?  was  the  subject  of  inquiry.  Nearly  every  body  who 
had  known  him,  or  who  had  had  any  dealings  with  him,  from 
the  earliest  period,  were  summoned  to  give  testimony.  Many 
interesting  and  important  facts,  that  would  properly  find  a 
place  in  his  biography,  were  elicited  on  that  occasion.  The 
whole  testimony  was  taken  down  by  an  accurate  stenographer, 
and  the  most  important  parts  afterwards  were  written  out  in 
full.  These  valuable  materials  were  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  writer  of  this  memoir.  In  1845,  the  whole  subject  again 
underwent  a  thorough  investigation  before  the  Circuit  Court 
of  Petersburg,  many  additional  witnesses  were  summoned,  and 
much  new  and  important  information  elicited.  The  writer 
was  a  personal  attendant  on  that  Court  during  the  trial. 

To  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Bryan,  who  is  the  niece  of  Mr.  Ran- 
dolph,  and  to  Mr.  Bryan  himself,  who  is  the  son  of  his  earli 
est  friend,  we  are  indebted  for  the  interesting  correspondence 
to  be  found  in  the  first  volume  of  this  work.  To  Mrs.  Dudley, 
Judge  Beverly  Tucker,  the  Hon.  John  Taliaferro,  and  Gover 
nor  Tazewell,  who  were  the  youthful  companions  and  school 
mates  of  Mr.  Randolph,  we  are  indebted  for  the  incidents  of 
his  early  life.  By  far  the  most  interesting  and  important  part 
of  the  work  is  the  copious  and  unreserved  correspondence  of  Mr. 
Randolph  with  the  late  and  much  lamented  Francis  S.  Key, 
Esq.,  of  Washington,  and  Dr.  John  Brockenbrough,  of  Vir 
ginia.  This  latter  gentleman  was,  par  excellence,  the  friend  of 
his  bosom.  Not  a  thought  or  a  feeling  was  concealed  from  him, 


PREFACE.  yji 

and  from  1811  to  May,  17, 1833  ,but  a  few  days  before  his  death, 
Mr.  Eandolph  wrote  constantly,  many  times  daily,  to  this  in 
valuable  friend.  The  entire  correspondence  is  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  writer.  Without  these  materials  and  this  unre 
served  confidence  on  the  part  of  one^ho  most  valued  the  re 
putation  of  his  departed  friend,  the  author  would  never  have 
undertaken  the  difficult  task  of  writing  the  life  of  John  Ean 
dolph.  Yery  many  of  the  letters  have  been  inserted  in  their 
proper  places — and  many  of  the  facts  and  incidents  interwoven 
into  the  narrative,  were  obtained  from  others  which  have  been 
suppressed — the  author's  chief  study  has  been  to  use  discreetly 
the  unbounded  confidence  that  was  reposed  in  his  prudence 
and  judgment.  It  would  be  almost  impossible  to  enumerate 
all  the  persons  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  many  of  the  in 
cidents  narrated  in  this  biography ;  every  body  knows  some 
thing  of  the  extraordinary  man  who  is  the  subject  of  it;  but 
we  have  given  each  one,  we  trust,  credit  for  his  contribution 
in  its  proper  place.  Many  of  the  anecdotes  and  witticisms 
commonly  attributed  to  Mr.  Eandolph  are  not  found  in  this 
work,  because  there  is  no  authority  for  them.  "  All  the  bas 
tard  wit  of  the  country,"  said  he  to  a  friend,  "  has  been  fa 
thered  on  me." 

As  to  the  printed  sources  of  information  connected  with  Mr. 
Eandolph's  public  career,  besides  a  valuable  collection  of  pam 
phlets  obtained  from  the  estate  of  the  late  John  Clopton,  the  au 
thor  has  had  free  access  to  the  library  of  Congress,  which,  hav 
ing  been  collected  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  is  very  copious  on  all  sub 
jects  connected  with  the  history  and  politics  of  the  country. 
Besides  these,  Mr.  Eitchie  was  so  kind  as  to  lend  the  only  full 
file  of  the  Enquirer  in  his  possession.  The  reader  needs  not  to 
be  informed  that  the  Eichmond  Enquirer  contains  a  full  chroni- 


PREFACE. 

cle  of  every  thing  that  has  been  said  and  done  in  Virginia, 
worthy  of  being  recorded  in  history,  from  1804  to  the  present 
time. 

Such  were  the  materials  in  possession  of  the  author.  The 
difficulty  was  not  to  obtain — but  to  sift,  digest,  and  arrange 
the  abundant  treasures  in  his  possession.  The  book  was 
commenced  when  the  author  had  leisure  to  write  to  his 
satisfaction  ;  it  has  been  finished  in  the  intervals  of  a  labori 
ous  profession,  and  he  feels  that  there  are  many  defects  which 
more  time  and  leisure  would  have  enabled  him  to  correct. 
Many  of  the  chapters  were  written  under  feelings  of  depres 
sion  and  anxiety  while  that  dread  pestilence,  the  cholera,  had 
overshadowed  with  gloom  and  made  desolate  our  devoted  city. 
Whatever  may  be  the  defects  of  the  book,  however,  the  reader 
may  be  assured  that  nothing  will  be  found  in  it  that  the  au 
thor  has  not  good  reason  to  believe  is  true. 

H.  A.  GAKLAKD. 

SAINT  Louis,  August,  1850. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 


PAGE. 

CHAPTER  I. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Matoax  —  Genealogy 

CHAPTER  IH. 

Childhood 

'          V'::       '              f            -v     :         • 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Family  Circle               . 

*   '    '   '           ' 

.          .          .          .   12 

CHAPTER  V. 

Flight  from  Matoax 

.           . 

16 

CHAPTER  VT. 

At  School 

... 

;       .  20 

CHAPTER  VH. 
The  Constitution  in  its  Chrysalis  State  ....         26 

CHAPTER  VHI. 
George  Mason  '.          .          .          .          .          ;          .          .  35 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Early  Political  Associations  ...  40 


x  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  X. 
Thomas  Jefferson  .  .  .  •  •  •  •  •   ^ 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Small  Beginnings— Edmund  Burke— Thomas  Paine        ...         62 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Youthful  Companions  .  .  .  .  •  •  •   59 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Richard  Randolph  ...  ...         61 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Visit  to  Charleston  and  Georgia          .  .  .  .  .  .64 

CHAPTER  XV. 
At  Home      .........         69 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Candidate  for  Congress— History  of  the  Times         .  .  .  .73 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
The  Fauchet  Letter  .  .  .  •  •  •         85 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Mr.  Monroe— France— Mr.  Adams  elected  President  .  .  .95 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  X.  Y.  Z.  Business        .......       108 

CHAPTER  XX. 
Patrick  Henry •  129 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
March  Court— The  Rising  and  the  Setting  Sun  .  .  .       128 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
France  and  the  Administration  .          •          •          •          •  142 


CONTENTS.  xi 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
Scene  in  the  Play-House—Standing  Army  ....       157 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
Make  to  yourself  an  Idol,  and,  in  spite  of  the  Decalogue,  Worship  it  166 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
The  course  of  True  Love  never  did  run  Smooth  >  .  .       177 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
Presidental  Election,  1800-1— Midnight  Judges       '_  .4.         ._,,:^;f-         185 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
The  Seventh  and  Eighth  Congresses— Chairman  of  the  Committee  of 

Ways  and  Means— The  Working  Period— The  Yazoo  Business         190 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
Friendship  .  .  .  .          ".  .  •  •        205 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
Ninth  Congress— Foreign  Relations— Difficulties  with  France  and  Spain      213 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

Difficulties  with  Great  Britain  .  .  .  ,     -  .  .        .  229 

CHAPTER  XXXL 

Closing  Scene          .  .  •   _       .  •  •  i       •  •       242 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
Aaron  Burr        ...•••••  262 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Embargo— The  Iliad  of  all  our  Woes      ..  .;  v       •*,       .  .       262 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Gunboats          ..  •*.•.-  •  •  •  •  2H 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 
James  Madison— Presidental  Election       .....       276 


XJi  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 
War  with  England 284 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
Clay— Calhoun        ........        303 


CHAPTEE    I. 

BIKTHPLACE. 

CAWSONS,  situated  on  a  commanding  promontory,  near  the  mouth  of 
Appomatox  river,  was  the  family  seat  of  Colonel  Theodorick  Bland, 
Senior,  of  Prince  George.  After  winding  amidst  its  woody  islands, 
around  the  base  of  this  hill,  the  river  spreads  out  into  a  wide  bay ; 
and,  together  with  the  James,  into  which  it  empties,  makes  towards 
the  north  and  east  a  magnificent  water  prospect,  embracing  in  one  view 
Shirley,  the  seat  of  the  Carters,  Bermuda  Hundred,  with  its  harbor 
and  ships,  City  Point,  and  other  places  of  less  note.  In  the  midst 
of  this  commanding  scene,  the  old  mansion-house  reared  its  ample 
proportions,  and,  with  its  offices  and  extended  wings,  was  not  an  un 
worthy  representative  of  the  baronial  days  in  which  it  was  built — 
when  Virginia  cavaliers,  under  the  title  of  gentlemen,  with  their 
broad  domain  of  virgin  soil,  and  long  retinue  of  servants,  lived  in  a 
style  of  elegance  and  profusion,  not  inferior  to  the  barons  of  Eng 
land,  and  dispensed  a  hospitality  which  more  than  half  a  century  of 
subdivision,  exhaustion,  and  decay,  has  not  entirely  effaced  from  the 
memory  of  their  impoverished  descendants. 

At  Cawsons,  scarcely  a  vestige  now  remains  of  former  magnifi 
cence.  The  old  mansion  was  burnt  down  many  years  ago.  Here 
and  there  a  solitary  out-dwelling,  which  escaped  the  conflagration, 
like  the  old  servants  of  a  decayed  family,  seem  to  speak  in  melan 
choly  pride  of  those  days,  when  it  was  their  glory  to  stand  in  the 
shadow  of  loftier  walls,  and  reflect  back  their  loud  revelry,  when 

"  The  misletoe  hung  in  the  castle  hall, 
The  holly  branch  shone  on  the  old  oak  wall ; 
And  the  baron's  retainers  were  blithe  and  gay, 
And  keeping  their  Christmas  holiday." 
VOL.    I.  1 


2  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

The  serpentine  paths,  the  broad  avenues,  and  smooth  gravel,  the 
mounds,  the  green  turf,  and  the  shrubbery  of  extended  pleasure- 
grounds,  are  all  mingled  with  the  vulgar  sod.  The  noble  outlines  of 
nature  are  still  there  ;  but  the  handiwork  of  man  has  disappeared. 

In  a  letter  to  his  friend,  F.  S.  Key,  dated  March  20,  1814,  John 
Randolph  says : — "  A  few  days  ago  I  returned  from  a  visit  to  my 
birthplace,  the  seat  of  my  ancestors  on  one  side — the  spot  where  my 
dear  and  honored  mother  was  given  in  marriage,  and  where  I  was 
ushered  in  this  world  of  woe.  The  sight  of  the  broad  waters  seemed 
to  renovate  me.  I  was  tossed  in  a  boat,  during  a  row  of  three  miles 
across  James  river,  and  sprinkled  with  the  spray  that  dashed  over 
her.  The  days  of  my  boyhood  seemed  to  be  renewed ;  but  at  the 
end  of  my  journey  I  found  desolation  and  stillness  as  of  death — the 
fires  of  hospitality  long  since  quenched ;  the  parish  church,  associa 
ted  with  my  earliest  and  tenderest  recollections,  tumbling  to  pieces ; 
not  more  from  natural  decay  than  sacrilegious  violence  !  What  a 
spectacle  does  our  lower  country  present !  Deserted  and  dismantled 
country-houses,  once  the  seats  of  cheerfulness  and  plenty,  and  the  tem 
ples  of  the  Most  High  ruinous  and  desolate,  '  frowning  in  portentous 
silence  upon  the  land.'  The  very  mansions  of  the  dead  have  not  es 
caped  violation.  Shattered  fragments  of  armorial  bearings,  and  epi 
taphs  on  scattered  stone,  attest  the  piety  and  vanity  of  the  past,  and 
the  brutality  of  the  present  age." 

Colonel  Bland  was  an  active  promoter  of  the  Revolution.  When 
Lord  Dunmore,  in  the  spring  of  1775,  under  instructions  from  Eng 
land,  undertook  to  disarm  the  people,  by  secretly  withdrawing  the 
muskets  and  powder  from  the  Magazine  in  Williamsburg,  Colonel 
Bland  was  among  the  first  to  rouse  the  country  to  resistance.  As 
munitions  of  war  were  scarce,  he,  his  son  Theodorick  Bland,  Jun., 
and  his  son-in-law,  John  Randolph,  father  of  the  late  John  of  Roan- 
oke,  sold  forty  negroes,  and  with  the  money  purchased  powder  for 
the  use  of  the  colony.  Endowed  with  an  ample  fortune  and  a  manly 
character,  having  been  for  a  series  of  years  in  succession  lieutenant 
of  the  county  of  Prince  George,  clerk  of  the  court,  and  representa 
tive  in  the  House  of  Burgesses,  he  possessed  a  commanding  influ 
ence  among  the  people.  His  house  was  the  centre. of  a  wide  circle  of 
friends  and  relations,  who  had  pledged  their  lives,  fortunes,  and  sa 
cred  honor,  to  the  cause  of  independence.  Though  they  did  not  rise 


BIRTHPLACE.  3 

to  be  master-spirits  in  that  eventful  struggle,  the  Elands,  the  Banis 
ters,  the  Boilings,  and  the  Eatons,  were  inferior  to  none  in  zeal,  de 
votion,  and  heroic  sacrifice. 

The  political  spirit  of  the  times  may  be  inferred  from  the  follow 
ing  incident : — The  old  man  growing  weary  of  a  solitary  life  of  wi 
dowhood,  was  advised  by  his  son  to  look  for  a  matrimonial  connec 
tion  in  a  certain  quarter.  After  spying  out  the  land,  he  wrote  to 
his  son :  "  Our  politics  differed  so  much  that  we  parted  by  mutual 
consent ;"  and  in  allusion  to  his  own  choice,  he  says :  "  the  person  I 
have  thought  of,  is  a  lady  of  great  goodness,  sensible,  and  a  true 
whig." 

Among  those  who  frequented  Cawsons  at  this  time,  and  partook 
of  its  welcome  and  generous  hospitality,  and  shared  with  its  inmates 
a  proud  defiance  of  the  encroachments  of  England,  was  a  young 
foreigner — though  he  can  scarcely  be  called  a  foreigner  who  speaks 
our  own  mother  tongue,  and  was  bred  up  almost  in  sight  of  the  Amer 
ican  shores. 

St.  George  Tucker  was  born  of  respectable  parents  in  the  island 
of  Bermuda,  where  he  commenced  the  study  of  law,  but  came  to 
Virginia,  before  the  Revolution,  in  order  to  complete  his  academic 
exercises  in  William  and  Mary  College.  His  urbanity,  social  dis 
position,  and  literary  attainments,  introduced  him  into  the-best  com 
pany  and  fashionable  circles  of  the  city.  His  general  good  conduct 
and  deportment  procured  him  the  favor  of  most  of  the  distinguished 
gentlemen  of  that  place.  When  he  had  completed  his  college  courses, 
he  resumed  the  study  of  law,  and  settled  permanently  in  Williams- 
burg  ;  but,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  disturbances  with  Great  Bri 
tain,  he  took  part  with  his  adopted  country,  laid  aside  his  legal  pur 
suits,  and  engaged  in  other  occupations.  It  doubtless  was  his  inten 
tion  to  have  served  in  the  tented  field ;  but  what  he  might  have  done 
in  the  way  of  military  achievement,  is  left  only  to  conjecture.  That 
he  might  have  rivalled  Kosciusko,  or  Pulaski,  or  De  Kalb,  he  after 
wards  gave  ample  proof  on  the  field  of  Guilford ;  but  the  glittering 
butterfly  of  military  glory  was  destined  to  fade  before  the  more  sub 
stantial  charms  of  female  beauty. 

Though  Cawsons  was  a  pleasant  place,  its  chief  magic  lay  in  the 
Colonel's  youngest  daughter,  Mrs.  Frances  Randolph,  who,  in  her 
"  unhappy  widowhood,"  (to  use  her  own  expressive  language,)  had  for 


4  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

the  most  part  forsaken  her  own  solitary  home,  and  sought  society  and 
consolation  beneath  her  father's  roof.  Mrs.  Randolph  was  possessed 
of  high  mental  qualities  and  extraordinary  beauty.  Though  one 
might  suppose  she  was  endowed  with  little  personal  attraction,  from 
an  expression  of  her  brother,  Colonel  Thcodorick  Bland,  Jun.,  who 
was  accustomed  to  call  her,  "  my  tawny  sister."  But  tradition,  con 
firmed  by  the  portraits  extant,  speaks  in  admiration  of  her  uncom 
mon  charms.  The  high,  expanded  forehead ;  smooth,  arched  brow, 
and  brilliant  dark  eyes  ;  the  well-defined  nose,  and  full,  round,  laugh 
ing  lips,  pregnant  with  wit  and  mirthfulness  ;  the  tall  figure  and  ex 
panded  chest ;  the  dark  hair,  winding  in  massy  folds  around  the  neck 
and  bosom ;  an  open,  cheerful  countenance — all  suffused  with  that 
deep,  rich,  oriental  tint  that  never  fades — made  her  the  most  beauti 
ful,  sprightly,  and  attractive  woman  of  her  age. 

Though  clad  in  widow's  garments,  and  on  her  brow  lay  a  pensive 
stillness,  as  of  one  dreaming,  she  was  yet  young  and  beautiful.  By 
her  side,  or  on  her  knee,  as  inseparable  as  her  own  shadow,  was  a 
child — her  youngest  child — a  little  boy,  her  favorite  John,  the  very 
image  of  his  mother.  In  his  dark  eyes  were  reflected  the  sadness  of 
her  own  soul ;  on  his  orphan  brow  was  imprinted  a  kiss,  that  ever  and 
anon  a  tear  washed  away.  So  much  of  subdued  loveliness  could 
not  fail  to  win  the  sympathy  of  old  and  young,  and  to  call  forth 
sighs  of  pity  and  regret. 

St.  Greorge  Tucker,  the  first  time  he  beheld  the  mother  and  her 
child,  was  filled  with  that  mingled  sentiment  which  more  agitates  the 
soul,  and  takes  deeper  hold  on  the  affections,  than  any  single  pas 
sion.  He  soon  found  himself  an  ardent  lover  at  the  feet  of  the 
charming  widow.  A  wife  at  sixteen,  she  was  not  long  to  be  per 
suaded  at  six-and-twenty  to  abandon  her  unhappy  widowhood.  In 
an  old  family  Prayer  Book,  in  her  own  handwriting,  is  found  the 
following  record : 

The  unhappy  widowhood  of  Frances  Handolph  commenced  on  the 
28th  day  of  Oct.,  in  the  year  1775. 

John  Randolph  and  Frances  Bland  were  married  the  9th  of 
March,  1769. 

Richard  Randolph,  their  first  son,  was  born  the  9th  of  March.  1770. 

Theodorick  Bland  Randolph,  their  second  son,  was  born*  the  22d 
of  January,  1771. 

John  Randolph,  their  third  son,  was  born  the  2d  of  June,  1773. 


MATOAX— GENEALOGY.  5 

Jane  Randolph,  their  first  daughter,  was  born  Nov.  10th,  1774, 
and  died  on  the  26th  of  Nov.,  1774. 

The  following  additions  to  the  above  record  is  found  in  the  hand 
writing  of  the  late  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke  : 

John  Randolph,  Junior,  fourth  son  of  Richard  Randolph,  of 
Curies,  in"  the  County  of  Henrico,  was  born  on  the  29th  of  June, 
1742,  0.  S.,— answering  to  the  10th  of  July,  N.  S. 

Frances  Bland,  fifth  and  youngest  daughter  of  Theodorick 
Bland,  of  Cawsons,  in  the  county  of  Prince  George,  was  born  on  the 
24th  of  Sept.,  1752,  N.  S. 

John  Randolph,  Esq.,  died  at  Matoax,  on  the  28th  of  October, 
1775 ;  and  on  the  23d  of  Sept.,  1778,  his  widow  married  St.  George 
Tucker,  of  Bermuda. 


CHAPTEE    II. 

MATOAX  —  GENEALOGY. 

MATOAX,  the  residence  of  John  and  Frances  Randolph  during  his 
life,  of  Mrs.  Randolph  in  her  widowhood,  and  of  kerself  and  Mr. 
Tucker,  her  second  husband,  till  the  time  of  her  death,  was  situ 
ated  on  Appomatox,  about  two  miles  above  Petersburg,  on  the 
opposite  side  ;  midway  the  falls,  and  on  a  high  bluff,  commanding  a 
wide  prospect  of  the  surrounding  country.  At  the  time  Mr.  Tucker 
was  introduced  there  by  his  elegant  and  accomplished  bride,  it  was 
the  centre  of  a  populous,  wealthy,  and  fashionable  neighborhood. 
To  say  nothing  of  the  town,  there  were  Battersea,  Mayfield,  Burling 
ton,  Mansfield,  Olive  Hill,  Violet  Hill,  Roslin,  all  on  the  same 
river  ;  many  in  sight,  and  none  more  than  two  miles  distant.  These 
were  the  residences  of  gentlemen  of  ample  fortunes,  liberal  educa 
tion,  polished  manners,  refined  hospitality,  and  devoted  patriotism. 
They  have  all  since  passed  into  other  hands  ;  some  have  gone  down 
entirely ;  and  the  wild  pine  and  the  broom  sedge  have  made  such 
steady  encroachments,  that  a  wilderness  has  grown  up  in  the  place 
of  fruitful  fields,  and  more  wild  deer  can  be  caught  within  a  circuit 
of  ten  miles  around  the  second  most  populous  city  in  the  State,  than 
in  a  similar  space  in  the  prairies  of  the  West.  A  statue  of  Niobe, 
in  her  own  capitol — of  Niobe  weeping  for  her  children — would  be  no 


Q  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

unfit  emblem  of  Old  Virginia  ;  her  sons  gone,  her  hearths  cold,  her 
fields  desolate. 

The  mansion  house  at  Matoax,  like  that  at  Cawsons,  was  burnt 
down  many  years  ago.  Nothing  now  remains  but  a  heap  of  ruins. 
When  we  visited  the  spot,  the  factory  boys,  with  their  hounds,  were 
chasing  the  hares  over  those  solitary  hills  where  once  the  proud  sons 
of  a  proud  race  pursued  the  same  light-footed  game.  A  high  hill  to 
the  eastward  of  that  on  which  the  mansion  was,  and  separated  from 
it  by  a  deep  ravine,  is  crowned  by  a  thick  cluster  of  oaks  and  other 
trees.  At  the  foot,  and  under  the  shadow  of  those  trees,  are  two 
graves,  covered  with  simple  marble  slabs,  level  with  the  earth, — con 
taining  the  following  inscriptions : 

Johannes  Randolph,  Arm : 

Ob.    xxviii.    Octo, 

MDCCLXXV, 

Mt.  xxxiv. 

Non  opibus  urna,  nee  mens  • 
virtutibus  absit. 

(  Translated.} 

John  Randdlph,  Esq.,  died  Oct.  28th,  1775,  aged  34.  Let  not  a 
tomb  be  wanting  to  his  ashes,  nor  memory  to  his  virtues. 

I.  H.  S. 
Franceses  Tucker  Blandse, 

Conjugio 

Sti  Greorgii  Tucker. 
Quis   desiderio   sit   modus? 

Obiit  xviii.  Januarii, 
MDCCLXXXVIII, 
Mi.  xxxvi. 

(  Translated.} 

Jesus,  Saviour  of  mankind. 

When  shall  we  cease  to  mourn  for  Frances  Bland  Tucker,  wife  of 
St.  George  Tucker?     She  died  18th  January,  1788,  aged  36. 

The  father  and  the  mother  of  the  late  John  Randolph  of  Roa- 
noke  !  It  was  his  wish  to  be  buried  by  their  side.  In  a  letter 
dated  London,  Dec.  19,  1830,  he  says  :  "  I  have  personally  but  one 
wish  ;  it  is  to  be  buried  by  the  side  of  my  honored  parents  at  old 
Matoax,  and  I  have  taken  measures  to  effectuate  it.  It  is  not  long 


MATO  AX —GENEALOGY.  7 

since  this  desire  sprung  up  in  my  heart,  where  all  else  is  withered, 
hard  and  dry." 

Matoax  was  a  part  of  the  vast  inheritance  which  descended  from 
Richard  Randolph  of  Curies,  to  his  four  sons,  Richard,  Brett, 
Ryland,  and  John. 

His  will  is  still  extant,  and  bears  date  about  the  time  of  the 
birth  of  his  youngest  son,  John,  and  a  short  time  before  his  own 
death,  1742.  It  makes  disposition  of  not  less  than  forty  thousand 
acres  of  the  choicest  lands  on  the  James,  Appomatox,  and  R-oanoke 
rivers.  Most  of  this  vast  estate  was  accumulated  by  his  own  "  in 
dustry  and  economy,"  as  we  learn  from  a  monument  erected  to  his 
memory  at  Turkey  Island  by  his  third  son,  Ryland.  To  his  daugh 
ters — Mary,  who  married  Archibald  Gary,  of  Ampthill ;  Jane,  who 
married  Anthony  Walke,  of  Princess  Anne ;  and  Elizabeth,  who 
married  Richard  Kidder  Meade — he  left  only  personal  property. 
All  the  lands  were  divided  among  the  four  sons.  Those  on  Appo 
matox  fell  to  John ;  those  on  Roanoke,  jointly  to  John  and  Ryland. 
Ryland  died  without  heir,  and  his  portion  descended  to  his  brother ; 
so  that  John,  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1775,  was  possessed  of 
large  and  valuable  estates  on  Appomatox  and  Roanoke. 

Richard  Randolph  of  Curies,  was  the  fourth  son  of  Col.  Wm. 
Randolph,  of  Warwickshire,  England,  who  was  the  first  of  the  name 
that  emigrated  to  Virginia,  and  settled  at  Turkey  Island.  He  died 
April  llth,  1711.  That  he  was  of  Warwickshire,  we  learn  from  a 
monument  at  Turkey  Island  ;  but  the  late  John  Randolph,  who 
took  great  pride  in  searching  into  the  genealogy  of  his  family,  says 
that  he  was  of  Yorkshire.  Between  the  researches  of  the  Hon. 
John,  and  the  monument  at  Turkey  Island,  we  leave  the  reader  to 
judge.  William  Randolph  was  the  father  of  seven  sons  and  two 
daughters,  who  became  the  progenitors  of  a  widespread  and  numer 
ous  race,  embracing  the  most  wealthy  families,  and  many  of  the  most 
distinguished  names  in  Virginia  history. 

We  will  not  cumber  our  pages  with  their  complicated  and  unintel 
ligible  genealogy.  In  the  course  of  our  narrative,  we  shall  give  such 
portions  as  may  become  necessary  for  its  elucidation.  At  present, 
we  are  only  concerned  with  Richard  Randolph  of  Curies,  the  fourth 
son.  He  married  Jane  Boiling,  who  was  the  daughter  of  John  Boi 
ling,  who  was  the  son  of  Robert  Boiling  and  Jane  Rolfe  his  wife, 


8  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

who  was  the  granddaughter  of  Pocahontas,  the  beautiful  Indian 
princess,  daughter  of  Powhatan,  whose  pathetic  story  is  so  well 
known. 

The  portrait  of  Mrs.  Randolph  (Jane  Boiling)  is  still  extant. 
A  more  marked  and  commanding  countenance  is  rarely  to  be  met 
with.  A  perfect  contrast  to  the  luxurious  ease,  graceful  manners, 
fluent  and  courtly  conversation,  betrayed  by  the  full  round  face,  ruddy 
complexion,  low  projecting  eyes,  smooth  brow,  and  the  delicate  per 
son  and  features  of  her  husband.  If  the  portrait  be  true  to  nature, 
none  of  the  Indian  complexion  can  be  traced  in  her  countenance. 
Her  erect  and  firm  position,  and  square  broad  shoulders,  are  the  only 
indications  of  Indian  descent.  The  face  is  decidedly  handsome; 
while  the  lofty,  expanded,  and  well  marked  forehead,  the  great 
breadth  between  the  eyes,  the  firm  distended  nostril,  compressed  lips, 
and  steady  eye,  display  an  intellect,  a  firmness,  and  moral  qualities, 
truly  heroic  and  commanding.  Worthy  descendant  of  the  daughter 
of  Powhatan. 

Placing  the  two  portraits  side  by  side,  one  cannot  fail  to  trace  in 
the  general  contour  of  countenance,  and  cranial  development,  a 
striking  resemblance  between  this  lady  and  her  grandson,  the  late 
John  Randolph  of  Roanoke. 


CHAPTEE    III. 

CHILDHOOD. 

A  WISE  poet  and  philosopher  has  said,  "  The  child  is  father  of  the 
man,"  and  that  our  days  are  "  Bound  each  to  each  in  natural  piety." 
Who  has  not  felt  the  force  of  this  truth,  so  beautifully  expressed  ? 
Who  is  not  conscious  that  his  personal  identity  cannot  be  measured 
by  time — that  he  is  the  same  to-day  he  was  yesterday,  and  as  far 
back  as  memory  can  reach  ?  Though  covered  with  years  and  busied 
with  graver  trifles,  who  does  not  feel  that  he  is  the  same  being  that 
once  gambolled  on  the  plain  with  his  school-fellows,  and  sought 
childish  sports  with  cheerful  heart  by  flood  and  field  1  Life  is  a  con 
tinuous  growth.  The  outspreading  oak  that  shades  the  venerable 
old  man  at  its  root,  is  but  the  gradual  development  of  the  little  nut 


CHILDHOOD.  9 

that  lay  concealed  in  the  acorn,  which  in  his  childhood  he  carelessly 
planted  there.  Had  it  been  planted  in  a  more  genial  soil,  it  might 
have  attained  a  prouder  growth.  In  a  Siberian  clirue  it  would  have 
been  stunted  and  mean.  Circumstances,  therefore,  do  not  make,  but 
they  develope  the  man.  To  know  one  thoroughly  as  he  is;  why  he  is 
thu&  and  not  otherwise  ;  the  man  he  is  and  not  another  ;  we  must  go 
back  to  his  childhood.  We  must  go  to  the  salient  point,  to  take  the 
scope  and  direction  of  his  character.  We  must  see"  him  surrounded 
by  the  circumstances  that  gave  the  first  impulse ;  the  influences  that 
first  stamped  their  impress  on  the  plastic  clay  ;  we  must  know  by  what 
scenes  he  was  surrounded  ;  was  he  reared  by  the  mountain-side,  the 
running  stream,  or  on  the  ocean's  shore  ?  was  he  in  daily  converse 
with  the  tamer  scenes  of  nature,  or  with  the  grand,  or  the  beautiful  1 
what  sort  of  people  were  his  father  and  mother,  his  brothers  and 
sisters,  his  playmates,  and  the  men  and  women  that  went  in  and  out 
before  him  ?  what  books  lay  in  his  way  ?  what  lessons  were  taught 
him,  not  in  the  school-house,  but  the  nursery,  and  by  the  domestic 
fireside  ?  what  were  the  traditions,  opinions,  passions,  prejudices, 
that  constituted  a  part  of  his  heritage  far  more  important  than  lands 
or  merchandise  ? 

Could  we  but  know  these  things  about  the  heroes,  the  statesmen, 
the  orators  and  the  poets,  who  excite  our  wonder  and  admiration, 
and  have  stamped  the  impress  of  their  character  not  only  on  their  own 
age,  but  on  the  world's  history,  how  different  would  be  our  judgment 
in  regard  to  them  !  We  behold  the  outside  alone  ;  we  are  only  made 
acquainted  with  the  histrionic,  the  acted  part  of  their  life.  What 
we  see  is  but  a  masquerade,  a  succession  of  magnified  and  illuminated 
faces  passing  before  the  disk  of  a  magic  lantern.  What  we  wish  to 
see  and  long  to  know  is*  far  otherwise.  Each,  like  Mephistopheles, 
has  caught  up  some  garment  best  suited  to  his  nature  or  his  purpose, 
and  strives  to  personate  {persona  originally  meant  an  actor's  mask\ 
to  seem  what  he  is  not.  Could  we  but  draw  aside  the  coverings  by 
which  they  strive  to  conceal  their  motives,  how  many  a  sigh  should 
we  hear  escape  from  heroic  bosoms  ;  how  many  a  wail  from  the  proud 
and  silent  spirit !  The  wounded  pride  of  authorship  gave  birth  to 
Manfred  and  Don  Juan.  The  want  of  bread  has  caused  many  a 
swanlike  strain  to  pour  from  the  lips  of  the  famishing  author.  More 
than  one  Helen  or  Cleopatra  has  set  the  heroes  of  the  world  in  mo- 

VOL.  i.  1* 


IQ  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

tion.  Pericles  governed  Athens,  his  wife  Pericles ;  the  son  the 
mother — the  schoolmaster  the  son,  and  he  in  his  turn — but  where 
would  this  end  ?  Oh  the  subtlety  and  complexity  of  human  motives  ! 

And  yet  without  some  tolerable  insight  into  these,  history  is  but 
an  empty  cloud-castle,  built  of  mist,  and  shadow,  and  sunbeams. 
There  are  two  kinds  of  history — the  outward  acted  history,  which  is 
false,  and  the  inner,  secret  history  of  causes  and.  influences ;  this 
alone  is  true  and  worth  knowing,  and  without  it  we  know  nothing  ; 
it  matters  not  how  learned  we  may  be  in  facts  and  dates.  It  is  said 
that  Dr.  Johnson  would  insult  any  man  who  began  to  talk  to  him 
about  the  Punic  wars.  What  does  the  wise  man  care  to  know  about 
battles  or  the  marching  and  counter-marching  of  a  multitude  with 
swords,  and  battle-axes  in  their  hands.  He  wants  to  know  the  condi 
tion  and  circumstances  of  the  people  that  made  war  necessary ;  the 
train  of  secret  causes  that  brought  it  on  ;  the  master-spirits  that  con 
trolled  it,  and  the  motives  that  influenced  them.  He  is  not  dazzled  by 
the  helmet  or  the  martial  dress,  but  lends  a  willing  ear  to  the  mur- 
murings  of  the  mad  Achilles  in  his  tent,  for  it  is  there,  in  those  breath 
ings  of  discontent,  in  those  outpourings  of  a  genuine  living  man,  that 
he  hopes  to  find  some  glimmering  of  the  truth.  A  little  insight  into 
the  private  life  of  the  humblest  Roman  would  be  worth  all  we  know 
of  the  Punic  wars,  its  galleys,  and  battles  of  Cannae.  A  mere  narra 
tive  of  events  abstracted  from  the  man  who  wrought  them,  is  like  the 
human  body  when  the  life  has  gone  out  of  it — cold,  stiff,  and  cum 
brous.  All  true  history  consists  in  biography.  And  there  can  be  no 
biography  where  the  author  does  not  forget  the  hero,  and  write  of  the 
man.  It  is  not  a  history  of  the  Revolution  that  we  want,  but  the 
Life  of  Washington.  Under  the  influence  of  these  opinions,  we  have 
commenced  the  task  of  writing  the  Life  of  John  Randolph. 

John  Randolph  was  born  at  Cawsons,  the  second  day  of  June, 
1773.  The  fiery  star  was  in  the  ascendant  at  his  birth,  and  pursued 
him  through  life ;  both  as  a  destroying  element,  and  a  subtle  Pro 
methean  flame  consuming  the  soul.  It  is  a  remarkable  coincidence, 
that  his  birthplace,  the  cherished  home  of  his  childhood,  and  the 
house  in  which  he  spent  the  first  fifteen  years  of  his  manhood,  Caw- 
sons,  Matoax,  and  Bizzarre,  were  all  in  succession  destroyed  by  fire. 

Shortly  after  the  destruction  of  Bizzarre,  which  was  complete — in 
volving  his  books  and  papers — he  was  asked  by  a  friend  why  he  did 


CHILDHOOD.  11 

not  write  something  to  leave  behind  him.  "  Too  late,  sir,  too  late," 
was  the  reply  ;  "  all  I  ever  wrote  perished  in  the  flames  ;  it  is  too  late 
to  restore  it  now."  He  fell  himself  to  be  a  child  of  destiny  ;  he  had 
a  work  given  him  to  do,  but  some  cross  fate  prevented  ;  he  failed  to 
fulfil  his  destiny,  and  was  wretched.  "  My  whole  name  and  race,"  he 
has  been  known  to  say,  "  lie  under  a  curse.  I  am  sure  I  feel  the 
curse  cleaving  to  me."  He  was  not  two  years  and  a  half  old  when 
his  father  died.  What  could  he  know  of  death  ?  He  only  grieved 
in  sympathy  with  his  mother's  tears.  It  was  not  till  long  after,  that 
he  learned  the  value  of  the  treasure  that  lay  buried  beneath  the  mar 
ble  slab  on  the  hill  under  the  old  oak  tree. 

Much  of  the  time  of  her  "  unhappy  widowhood"  was  spent  by 
Mrs.  Randolph  at  Cawsons.  Here  the  little  John  was  always  a 
welcome  guest.  He  was  a  great  favorite  with  the  whole  household, 
especially  with  his  grandfather  and  his  cousin  Anna  Eaton,  about 
ten  years  older  than  himself,  now  the  venerable  Mrs.  Anna  Bland 
Dudley,  of  Franklin,  Tennessee.  He  was  so  delicate,  reserved,  and 
beautiful,  that  he  attracted  the  notice  of  all  who  frequented  the 
house.  His  skin  was  as  soft  and  delicate  as  a  female.  "  There  is  no 
accounting  for  thinness  of  skins  in  different  animals,  human  or 
brute,"  says  he  in  a  letter  dated  January  31,  1826.  "Mine  I  be 
lieve  to  be  more  tender  than  many  infants  of  a  month  old.  Indeed, 
I  have  remarked  in  myself,  from  my  earliest  recollection,  a  delicacy 
or  effeminacy  of  complexion,  that,  but  for  a  spice  of  the  devil  in  my 
temper,  would  have  consigned  me  to  the  distaff  or  the  needle."  A 
spice  of  the  devil  in  his  temper  !  Well  might  he  say  that.  Before 
be  was  four  years  old,  Mrs.  Dudley  has  known  him  to  swoon  away  in 
a  fit  of  passion,  and  with  difficulty  could  be  restored :  an  evidence 
of  the  extreme  delicacy  of  his  constitution,  and  the  uncontrollable  ar 
dor  of  a  temper  that  required  a  stronger  frame  to  repress  and  re 
strain  it.  Notwithstanding  his  excitable  nature,  he  was  always  de 
voted  to  his  mother ;  would  hang  fondly  about  her  neck,  and  could 
only  be  soothed  by  her  caresses.  Of  her  Mrs.  Dudley  thus  speaks : 
— "  She  was  a  woman,  not  only  of  superior  personal  attractions,  but 
excelled  all  others  of  her  day  in  strength  of  intellect,  for  which  she 
was  so  justly  celebrated."  This  excellent  and  highly  gifted  lady 
trained  up  her  child  in  the  way  he  should  go.  He  was  allowed  to 
come  in  contact  with  nothing  low,  vulgar  or  mean.  Mrs.  Dudley, 


12  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

Governor  Tazewell,  and  the  Hon.  John  Talliaferro,  who  remember 
him.  well  in  childhood,  speak  with  admiration  of  his  moral  purity, 
and  entire  exemption  from  all  vicious  habits.  His  mother  early 
taught  him  to  read,  and  impressed  on  his  mind  the  best  lessons.  She 
was  a  member  of  the  Church  of  England,  a  faith  from  which  her  son 
never  long  departed.  On  her  bended  knees,  with  him  by  her  side, 
she  repeated  day  after  day  the  prayers  and  collects  of  that  admirable 
litany,  which  were  never  effaced  from  his  tenacious  memory.  Often 
through  life  has  he  been  known,  in  mental  agony,  to  ejaculate  them 
with  an  earnestness  that  called  forth  tears  from  all  who  heard  him. 

"  When  I  could  first  remember,"  says  he  to  a  friend,  "  I  slept  in 
the  same  bed  with  my  widowed  mother — each  nigh .,,  before  putting 
me  to  bed,  I  repeated  on  my  knees  before  her  the  Lord's  Prayer  and 
the  Apostle's  Creed — each  morning  kneeling  in  the  bed  I  put' up  my 
little  hands  in  prayer  in  the  same  form.  Years  have  since  passed 
away ;  I  have  been  a  skeptic,  a  professed  scoffer,  glorying  in  my  infi 
delity,  and  vain  of  the  ingenuity  with  which  I  could  defend  it. 
Prayer  never  crossed  my  mind,  but  in  scorn.  I  am  now  conscious 
that  the  lessons  above  mentioned,  taught  me  by  my  dear  and  revered 
mother,  are  of  more  value  to  me  than  all  that  I  have  learned  from  my 
preceptors  and  compeers.  On  Sunday  I  said  my  catechism,  a  great 
part  of  which  at  the  distance  of  thirty-five  years  I  can  yet  repeat." 


CHAPTEE    IV. 

FAMILY   CIECLE. 

IN  the  autumn  of  1778,  the  family  circle  at  Matoax  consisted  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tucker,  and  her  three  sons,  Richard,  Theodorick,  and 
John  Randolph.  Richard  was  in  his  ninth  year,  Theodorick  was 
nearly  eight,  and  John  was  in  the  sixth  year  of  his  age.  They  were 
all  sprightly  and  interesting  boys ;  and  cheerfulness  was  once  more 
restored  to  this  happy  family.  A  more  amiable  and  exemplary  step 
father  than  Mr.  Tucker  could  not  be  found.  This  trait  in  his  char 
acter  was  proverbial  among  his  acquaintance  every  where.  "  I  remem 
ber  to  have  heard  a  brother  of  mine,"  says  the  late  Daniel  Call,  "  who 


FAMILY  CIRCLE.  13 

married  a  niece  of  Mrs.  Randolph  of  Curies,  and  was  thus  occasion 
ally  thrown  into  circles,  where  he  sometimes  met  the  Matoax  family, 
once  say,  that  *  Mr.  Tucker  must  be  the  best  father-in-law  in  the 
world,  or  his  step-children  would  not  be  so  fond  of  him.'  "  Up  to 
this  time  the  boys  had  never  been  to  school.  All  of  their  instruction 
had  been  received  at  the  hands  of  their  mother.  Mr.  Tucker  now 
undertook  their  education.  But  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  he  devo 
ted  himself  to  school-keeping  with  the  rigid  discipline  of  a  peda 
gogue.  The  life  of  ease  and  elegance  which  he  is  known  to  have 
lived,  amidst  literary  pursuits  to  which  he  was  devoted,  and  in  the 
society  of  wealthy  and  fashionable  neighbors,  of  which  he  and  his 
accomplished  lady  were  the  chief  ornament,  would  not  justify  such  a 
conclusion.  His  leisure  was  given  to  their  instruction  ;  and  he  at  all 
times  took  a  lively  interest  in  their  improvement.  In  his  letters  +o 
Colonel  Bland,  Jr.,  who  was- stationed  with  a  regiment  at  Charlottes- 
ville  to  guard  the  captured  troops  of  Burgoyne's  army,  he  often  men 
tions  them,  and  always  with  great  solicitude.  In  one  dated  Matoax, 
July  20,  1779,  not  ten  months  after  his  connection  with  the  family, 
he  writes : — "  What  you  wrote  about  Bob  (Robert  Banister,  a  cousin, 
then  with  his  uncle,  Colonel  Bland)  has  inspired  the  boys  with  the 
spirit  of  emulation,  which  I  hope  will  be  productive  of  some  benefit 
to  them.  I  find  he  serves  as  a  very  good  spur  to  them  when  they  are 
growing  a  little  negligent.  Two  of  them  appear  to  be  blessed  with 
excellent  capacities,  but  I  confess  I  am  afraid  that  the  genius  of  your 
namesake  (Theodorick),  though  possessed  of  great  quickness  and 
acuteness  in  many  respects,  does  not  lie  in  the  literary  line.  *  * 

*     *     I  shall  continue  to  give  them  all  the  assistance  that  leisure 
will  permit." 

John  was  too  young  and  too  delicate  to  be  confined.  We  may 
imagine  also  that,  with  so  indulgent  a  teacher  and  so  amiable  a  man. 
having  a  spice  of  the  devil  withal  in  his  own  temper,  he  could. not 
have  learnt  much.  He  was  not  boisterous,  nor  inclined  to  the  athletic 
out-door  sports  of  which  boys  are  so  fond.  He  sought  amusements 
within.  When  any  of  the  boys  and  girls  from  the  neighborhood 
came  to  Matoax,  he  introduced  the  play  of  "  Ladies  and  Gentlemen," 
in  which  each  one  personated  some  known  or  imagined  character, 
male  or  female,  and  acted  as  they  supposed  such  persons  woujd  under 
similar  circumstances  have  acted.  He  was  decidedly  of  a  dramatic 


14  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

turn.  And  his  ardent  temper  and  oriental  imagination,  precociously 
developed,  invested  with  an  earnestness  and  a  reality  all  the  sports 
and  pastimes  of  his  childhood.  But  he  was  not  idle. 

There  was  a  certain  closet  to  which  he  stole  away  and  secreted 
himself  whenever  he  could.  It  was  not  redolent — that  closet — of 
cakes  or  the  perfume  of  sweetmeats,  but  the  odor  of  books, — of  old 
musty  tomes  arranged  along  its  shelves.  With  a  mysterious  awe, — as 
if  about  to  commune  with  mighty  spirits  and  beings  of  another 
world,  as  he  really  was — would  he  close  the  door  upon  himself,  and 
devour,  with  "  more  eagerness  than  gingerbread,"  the  contents  of 
those  old  volumes.  His  mind,  young  as  he  was,  craved  after  ethereal 
food,  and  there  he  found  the  richest  repast. 

The  first  book  that  fell  in  his  way  was  Voltaire's  History  of 
Charles  XII.  of  Sweden.  An  admirable  writer  on  education  has 
said,  that  "whatever  the  young  have  to  read  ought  to  be  objective, 
clear,  simple,  and  precise ;  ought  to  be  the  thing  itself,  and  not  round 
about  dialogues  about  the  thing."  No  book  could  fill  this  description 
more  completely  than  the  above-mentioned  History — full  of  stirring 
incidents,  with  a  style  of  simple  narrative  as  rapid  and  perspicuous 
as  that  master  of  style  could  make  it.  How  his  young  heart  must 
have  burned  within  him  as  he  pursued  the  eventful  career  of  the 
bold,  reckless  and  indomitable  Charles  !  Feeling  the  impulses  of  a 
kindred  spirit,  his  sympathy  must  have  been  intense  for  the  wild, 
stout-hearted  Scandinavian.  The  next  book  he  read  was  the  Specta 
tor  ;  but  only  the  narrative  and  dramatic  parts  as  we  might  suppose. 
The  young  mind  can  only  be  interested  in  things,  objects,  and  not  in 
roundabout  dialogues  about  things.  He  delighted  in  Humphrey 
Clinker — Reynard  the  Fox  came  next ;  then  Tales  of  the  Grenii  and 
Arabian  Nights.  What  a  field  of  delight  was  opened  here — what  a 
world  of  glory  in  those  old  tales  of  wonder,  the  genuine  poetry  for 
children  !  The  Arabian  Nights  and  Shakspeare  were  his  idols.  He 
had  read  Goldsmith's  Roman  History,  and  an  old  History  of  Brad- 
dock's  War.  When  not  eight  years  old,  he  used  to  sing  an  old  ballad 
of  his  defeat : 

"  On  the  sixth  day  of  July,  in  the  year  sixty-five,* 

At  two  in  the  morning  did  our  forces  arrive  ; 
When  the  French  and  the  Indians  in  ambush  did  lay, 
And  there  was  great  slaughter  of  our  forces  that  day." 


FAMILY  CIRCLE.  15 

But  the  "  Thousand  and  One  Tales"  and  Shakspeare  were  his 
idols  !  All  others  were  in  a  sense  shallow  and  limited — had  bounds 
that  could  be  measured — but  these  were  fathomless,  boundless ; 
opening  up  to  the  rapt  vision  a  world  of  enchantment,  ever  varying, 
ever  new.  He  was  a  poet,  a  born  poet,  nascitur  non  fit.  He  did 
not  write  poetry ;  but  he  spoke  it,  he  felt  it,  he  lived  it.  His  whole 
life  was  a  poem,  of  the  genuine  epic  sort;  sad,  mournful,  true. 
"  For  poetry,"  says  he,  "  I  have  had  a  decided  taste  from  my  child 
hood  ;  this  taste  I  have  sedulously  cultivated."  Let  that  old  closet 
tell !  Only  think  of  the  boy  who  had  read  the  books  we  have  cited, 
and  Don  Quixotte,  Gil  Bias,  Quintus  Curtius,  Plutarch,  Pope's  Ho 
mer,  Robinson  Crusoe,  Grulliver,  Tom  Jones,  Orlando  Furioso,  and 
Thomson's  Seasons,  before  he  was  eleven  years  of  age  ! 

For  more  than  two  years  the  old  closet  was  to  that  young  genius 
the  cave  of  Aladdin ;  and  those  old  tomes  the  magic  lamp  by  whose 
aid  he  could  summon  to  his  presence  the  giants  and  the  genii,  the 
dwarfs  and  the  fairies,  the  Calibans-  and  the  Mirandas,  and  all  the 
wonderful  creations  of  fancy  and  imagination.  With  the  clear,  open 
sense  and  loving  heart  of  childhood,  he  devoured  those  narrations 
and  tales,  which  as  he  grew  up  became  the  themes  of  reflection,  the 
objects  of  his  aptest  illustrations,  and  the  sources  whence  he  drew  his 
lessons  of  profoundest  wisdom.  What  a  force  of  illustration,  and 
even  of  argument,  is  found  in  his  beautiful  allusions  to  the  marriage 
of  Sinbad  the  Sailor  to  the  corpse  of  his  wife ;  the  Old  Man  of  the 
Sea ;  and  the  Vision  of  Alnascar  !  As  to  Shakspeare,  he  was  so  tho 
roughly  imbued  with  his  spirit,  his  own  genius  so  akin  to  the  Avon 
bard,  that  he  thought  and  spoke  as  Shakspeare  in  his  station  would 
have  thought  and  spoken. 

He  lamented  in  after  life  his  rambling  way  of  reading.  But  it 
could  not  have  been  otherwise.  He  belonged  to  the  irritabile  genus 
— was  a  born  poet,  and  could  not  brook  the  restraint  or  the  gin-horse 
routine  of  a  grammar  school.  "  I  have  been  all  my  life,"  says  he, 
"  the  creature  of  impulse,  the  sport  of  chance,  the  victim  of  my  own 
uncontrolled  and  uncontrollable  sensations ;  of  a  poetic  temperament. 
I  admire  and  pity  all  who  possess  this  temperament."  Poor  fellow  ! 
What  could  mother  or  step-father  do  with  such  a  thin-skinned,  sensi 
tive,  impulsive,  imaginative  boy  ?  With  his  fits  of  passion  and  swoon 
ing,  what  could  they  do  ?  Nature  is  her  own  best  guide.  Develope 


15  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

nature  according  to  her  own  instincts,  and  the  best  has  been  done  that 
the  case  will  admit  of.  So  thought  the  kind  parents  of  this  delicate 
boy.  They  put  no  restraint  upon  him.  Gentleness  and  tender  care 
followed  all  his  footsteps.  He  was  suffered  to  roam  freely  over  the 
hills  and  by  the  waterfalls  of  Appomatox.  The  quiet  sport  of  angling 
was  his  chief  source  of  amusement.  When  tired,  he  stole  away  into  the 
closet,  and  none  took  heed  of  him.  In  this  happy,  ever-remembered 
dream  of  childhood,  two  years  and  a  half  passed  away.  Christmas, 
in  the  year  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty,  was  destined  to  be  the 
last  Christmas  he  would  ever  spend  at  Matoax  as  his  home — as  his 
home  and  dwelling-place. 


CHAPTEE    Y. 

FLIGHT     FEOM     MATOAX.     . 

THE  new  year  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-one  commenced  with 
the  invasion  of  Virginia  by  the  traitor  Arnold.  He  had  been 
intrusted  with  an  expedition  to  that  province,  not  with  the  hope  of 
conquest,  or  with  the  expectation  of  achieving  any  important  mili 
tary  enterprise,  but  solely  for  the  purpose  of  plunder  and  devasta 
tion.  What  the  proud  soldier  scorned  to  do  was  fit  work  for  the 
betrayer  of  his  country.  The  name  of  Arnold,  before  it  became  a 
by-word  of  reproach,  was  a  sound  of  terror,  not  to  armed  men,  but  to 
defenceless  women  and  children.  The  fame  of  his  rapine  and 
murder  in  his  native  State  had  preceded  his  arrival  in  Virginia. 
On  the  3d  of  January,  it  was  rumored  at  Matoax  that  the  enemy 
were  coming  up  James  river,  and  that  they  were  destined  for  Peters 
burg  or  Richmond.  Mrs.  Tucker  had  then  been  but  five  days 
mother  to  her  last  child,  the  present  eminent  jurist,  Judge  Henry 
St.  George  Tucker,  of  the  University.  "  The  first  time  I  ever  saw 
that  gentleman,"  said  John  Randolph  once  in  a  speech,  "  we  were 
trying  to  get  out  of  the  way  of  the  British."  The  enemy  that  night 
landed  at  Hood's,  of  which  being  apprised  early  next  morning,  and 
hearing  that  they  had  marched  as  far  as  Bland's  Ordinary,  in  their 


FLIGHT  FROM  MATOAX.  17 

way  to  Petersburg,  Mr.  Tucker  came  to  the  conclusion,  whatever 
might  be  the  consequence,  to  remove  his  family  out  of  the  way  of 
danger,  if  possible.  Hasty  preparations  were  ordered  for  their 
immediate  departure.  What  bustle  and  confusion  that  frosty  morn 
ing  reigned  through  the  halls  at  Matoax — each  hurrying  into  trunks 
or  boxes,  or  loaded  wagons,  such  articles  as  to  them  seemed  most 
valuable,  heaping  imprecations  at  the  same  time  on  that  new  name 
of  dread,  Benedict  Arnold.  Whether  John  stole  into  the  old  closet 
for  the  last  time,  and  took  out  such  volumes  as  pleased  him,  we  are 
not  informed.  Early  next  morning,  the  5th  of  January,  Syphax 
drove  off  with  the  mother  and  her  child ;  Essex  and  the  boys 
brought  up  the  rear ;  and  in  a  few  hours  Matoax,  solitary  and  alone, 
with  all  its  effects,  was  abandoned  to  its  fate.  Mrs.  Tucker  met 
with  a  most  kind  and  hospitable  reception  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Ben. 
Ward,  Jun'r,  at  Wintopoke  :  an  ominous  name  in  conjunction  with 
that  of  John  Randolph.  It  was  the  daughter  of  this  gentleman 
to  whom  in  after  years  he  became  so  much  attached.  The  un- 
smooth  current  of  their  loves  (as  all  true  love  is)  greatly  affected  his 
sensitive  nature,  and  had  no  little  influence  on  the  most  important 
events  of  his  life.  Those  children,  when  they  first  met  together 
around  the  fireside  at  Wintopoke,  and  joined  in  the  innocent  plays 
of  childhood,  how  unconscious  were  they  of  the  deep  drama  of  life 
in  which  they  were  destined  to  play  so  sad  a  part !  After  recruiting 
her  health  and  strength  a  few  days,  which  had  been  somewhat  im 
paired  by  fatigue  and  hurry  of  spirits,  Mrs.  Tucker  pursued  her 
journey  to  Bizarre,  a  large  and  valuable  estate  on  both  sides  of  the 
Appomatox,  where  she  and  the  boys  were  destined  to  spend  alone 
the  remainder  of  this  stirring  and  eventful  year.  So  soon  as  his 
family  were  in  a  place  of  safety,  Mr.  Tucker  hastened  back  to  the 
scene  of  action  to  assist  old  Col.  Bland  in  his  escape,  and  to  secure 
such  property,  belonging  to  himself  and  friends,  as  had  not  been 
destroyed  by  the  enemy.  This  done,  he  threw  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  Chesterfield  regiment  of  militia  and  joined  General  Greene, 
then  manoeuvring  before  Cornwallis's  army  on  the  borders  of  North 
Carolina  and  Virginia.  He  was  at  the  battle  of  Guilford,  which 
took  place  the  8th  of  March,  where  he  behaved  very  gallantly. 
When  Gen.  Greene  marched  into  South  Carolina  after  this  engage 
ment,  he  returned  to  Virginia,  spent  a  few  weeks  with  his  family  at 


13  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

Bizarre,  then  joined  General  La  Fayette,  with  whom  he  continued 
till  the  capture  of  Cornwallis,  the  19th  of  October,  at  Yorktown. 

Notwithstanding  his  active  participation  in  the  military  opera 
tions  of  that  period,  his  solicitude  for  the  education  of  the  boys 
was  unabated.  From  Bizarre,  May  the  23d,  he  wrote  to  Colonel 
Bland :  "  Lose  no  opportunity  of  procuring  a  tutor  for  the  boys, 
for  the  exigency  is  greater  than  you  can  imagine."  Again,  from 
Richmond,  July  17th,  he  writes  on  the  same  subject;  and  then 
from  Williamsburg,  amidst  the  active  preparations  for  that  great 
event  which  was  to  end  the  war,  and  secure  the  independence  of  the 
country.  In  a  letter  dated  Williamsburg,  Sept.  21st,  he  says : 
"  The  boys  are  still  without,  and  more  than  ever  in  want,  of  a  tutor. 
Walker  Maury  has  written  to  me  lately,  and  given  me  such  a  plan 
of  his  school,  that  unless  you  procure  a  tutor  before  Christmas,  I 
would  at  all  events  advise  sending  them  to  him  immediately  after. 
I  know  his  worth ;  I  know  that  his  abilities  are  equal  to  the  task ; 
and  I  know  that  his  assiduity  will  be  equally  directed  to  improve 
their  morals  and  their  understandings,  as  their  manners.  With  this 
prospect,  I  would  not  advise  the  providing  any  but  a  man  of  superior 
talents  as  a  private  tutor."  The  year  '81  was  full  of  stirring  life  to 
the  men,  but  of  idleness  to  the  boys  ;  yet  we  are  not  to  suppose  that 
because  the  young  Randolphs  had  not  the  benefit  of  a  tutor  to  teach 
them  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages,  they  were  entirely  destitute  of 
instruction :  with  such  a  mother  as  they  were  blessed,  they  could 
not  grow  up  in  vice  or  idleness.  Her  sprightly  wit,  sound  judgment, 
good  temper,  and  pious  example,  impressed  their  character  more 
favorably  than  all  the  learning  of  the  schools.  Her  precepts  were  law 
to  their  plastic  minds  ;  and  they  ever  afterwards  retained  a  lively  recol 
lection  of  their  wisdom  and  truth.  When  riding  over  the  vast  Roa- 
noke  estates  one  day,  she  took  John  up  behind  her,  and,  waving  her 
hand  over  the  broad  acres  spread  before  them,  she  said :  "  Johnny, 
all  this  land  belongs  to  you  and  your  brother  Theodorick ;  it  is  your 
father's  inheritance.  When  you  get  to  be  a  man  you  must  not 
sell  your  land ;  it  is  the  first  step  to  ruin  for  a  boy  to  part 
with  his  father's  home :  be  sure  to  keep  it  as  long  as  you  live. 
Keep  your  land  and  your  land  will  keep  you."  In  relating  this 
anecdote,  Mr.  Randolph  said  it  made  such  an  impression  on  his 
mind  that  it  governed  his  future  life.  He  was  confident  it  saved 


FLIGHT  FROM  MATOAX.  19 

him  from  many  errors.  He  never  did  part  from  his  father's  home. 
His  attachment  to  the  soil,  the  old  English  law  of  inheritance,  and  a 
landed  aristocracy  (we  have  no  other  word  to  express  our  meaning), 
constituted  the  most  remarkable  trait  in  his  character.  The  Vir 
ginia  law  of  descents,  framed  by  Pendleton,  Wythe,  and  Jefferson, 
never  found  favor  in  his  eyes.  While  descanting  on  its  evils,  he  has 
been  heard  to  say,  "  Well  might  old  George  Mason  exclaim,  that  the 
authors  of  that  law  never  had  a  son !"  In  a  letter  addressed  to  a 
friend  at  a  very  late  period  of  life,  he  says :  "  The  old  families  of 
Virginia  will  form  connections  with  low  people,  and  sink  into  the  mass 
of  overseers'  sons  and  daughters ;  and  this  is  the  legitimate,  nay, 
inevitable  conclusion  to  which  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Iiis  levelling  system 
has  brought  us.  They  know  better  in  New-York,  and  they  feel  the 
good  effects  of  not  disturbing  the  rights  of  property.  The  patroon  is 
as  secure  in  his  rents  as  any  man  in  the  community.  The  great 
manor  of  Philipsburg  was  scandalously  confiscated,  and  the  Living 
stons  have  lost  their  influence  by  subdivision.  Every  now  and  then 
our  old  acquaintance,  Burr,  finds  out  some  flaw  in  the  titles  of  the 
usurpers,  and  a  fine  estate  is  restored  to  its  legitimate  owners."  In 
this  passage  the  reader  will  find  "  the  key  words,"  to  use  his  own 
expression,  that  decipher  every  thing  in  the  character  of  John  Ran 
dolph. 

The  subdivision  or  alienation  of  his  father's  inheritance  was  a 
subject  he  could  not  contemplate.  Like  Logan,  lie  was  alone — all 
alone — and  no  one  of  his  father's  house  after  him  to  inherit  his 
father's  home  ;  hence  the  apparent  inconsistency  in  the  disposition  of 
his  estates,  the  facility  with  which  he  made  and  unmade  wills — in 
short,  the  monomania  with  which  he  was  charged  on  the  subject  of 
property. 


20  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

CHAPTEE    VI. 

AT  SCHOOL. 

AFTER  Christmas  the  boys  were  sent  to  Walker  Maury's  school 
in  Orange  county.  Before  he  was  nine  years  of  age,  John  was 
separated  from  the  brooding  watchfulness  of  a  devoted  mother,  and 
exposed  to  the  dangers,  evil  examples,  and  vices  of  a  public  school. 
Tender  and  delicate  as  a  female,  he  was  forced  out  on  the  society  of 
ruder  boys,  to  endure  or  to  resist  as  he  might  their  kicks,  cuifs,  and 
bruises.  Early  did  he  begin  among  his  equals  to  learn  that  personal 
merit  is  of  more  avail  than  birth  or  riches ;  and  that  truth,  fortitude, 
and  courage,  are  more  to  be  valued  than  much  learning. 

At  the  school  in  Orange,  the  young  Randolphs  remained  until 
about  the  middle  of  October,  1 782,  when  it  was  broken  up,  and  Mr. 
Maury  removed  to  the  city  of  Williamsburg. 

He  had  been  invited  to  that  place  to  establish  a  Grammar  School 
as  an  appendage  to  William  and  Mary  College,  in  which  there  was 
no  professorship  of  Humanity  existing  at  that  time.  The  school  was 
regulated  most  judiciously  ;  and  was  soon  attended  by  more  pupils 
than  any  other  Grammar  School  that  had  been  before  established  or 
has  since  existed  in  Virginia.  More  than  one  hundred,  at  one  time, 
were  in  attendance,  including  boys  from  every  State  in  the  Union, 
from  Georgia  to  Maryland,  both  inclusive.  Such  a  number  of  pupils 
made  it  necessary  that  they  should  be  divided  into  classes.  The 
greater  proportion  of  these  classes  were  consigned  to  assistants,  of 
whom  there  were  four.  Soon  after  Mr.  Maury  was  established  in 
Williamsburg,  the  young  Randolphs  followed  him  there,  and  again 
became  members  of  his  school.  Richard,  the  eldest,  was  placed  in 
the  second  class,  under  the  immediate  direction  of  Mr.  Maury  himself. 
Theodorick  and  John  were  placed  in  the  fourth  class,  which  was  the 
head  class  assigned  to  the  superintendence  of  the  chief  usher,  a  Mr. 
Elliot.  When  the  class  was  so  augmented,  it  was  reading,  and  had 
nearly  finished,  Eutropius.  One  of  the  books  then  used  by  a  class 
mate,  with  a  class-roll  written  on  the  fly-leaf,  is  still  extant.  In  a 
short  time  after  the  young  Randolphs  joined  it,  the  class  had  made 


AT  SCHOOL.  21 

such  progress  that  it  was  transferred  from  the  usher's  department  to 
that  of  the  principal.  It  then  became  the  third  class.  While  John 
Randolph  continued  a  member  of  it,  which  was  more  than  a  year,  it 
was  engaged  in  reading  Sallust  and  Virgil,  and  had  made  some 
progress  in  learning  the  Greek  and  French  languages,  and  the  ele 
ments  of  Geometry.  Though  he  complained  of  having  learned  but 
little  at  this  school,  his  attainments  for  the  short  time  he  was  con 
nected  with  it  must  have  been  very  considerable.  While  there  he 
learned  to  repeat  the  Westminster  Greek  Grammar  by  heart,  as  he 
could  the  alphabet. 

It  was  around  the  base  of  Lord  Bottetourt's  statue,  in  the  old 
Capitol,  the  great  clock,  now  removed  to  the  church  in  Williamsburg, 
vibrating  overhead,  that  he  committed  his  lessons  to  memory.  His 
attainment  in  Latin  also  must  have  been  considerable.  The  boys 
were  in  the  habit  of  acting  plays  in  the  original  language  from  Plau- 
tus  and  Terrence.  He  was  always  selected  to  perform  the  female 
parts.  His  feminine  appearance,  and  the  "  spice  of  the  devil  in  his 
temper,"  rendered  him  peculiarly  fitted  for  that  purpose,  and  his 
performance  was  admirable.  One  who  remembers  his  personal 
appearance  at  that  time,  in  speaking  of  him,  lifted  up  both  hands, 
and  exclaimed,  "  he  was  the  most  beautiful  boy  I  ever  beheld  !"  He 
was,  indeed,  the  admiration  of  all  who  saw  him,  was  a  great  favorite 
with  the  ladies,  but  his  proud  temper  and  reserved  manners  prevented 
him  from  forming  any  intimate  associations  with  his  school-fellows. 
Though  a  promiscuous  intercourse  was  repugnant  to  his  feelings,  no 
one  was  capable  of  appreciating  true  merit,  and  of  forming  closer, 
more  unreserved,  warmer,  and  lasting  attachments  than  John  Ran 
dolph.  Shunning  vulgar  society  and  repelling  familiarity,  he  was 
the  more  open  and  devoted  to  those  who  were  honored  with  his  friend 
ship.  He  had  a  natural  instinct  for  discovering  character ;  and  was 
remarkable  in  earliest  youth  for  his  discernment  and  scrutiny  into 
motives. 

Among  the  hundreds  of  boys  with  whom  he  came  in  daily  con 
tact,  he  associated  with,  and  formed  an  attachment  to,  one  class-mate 
alone.  That  class-mate  was  Littleton  Waller  Tazewell.  With  a 
genius  as  brilliant  as  his  own,  a  heart  as  warm,  and  a  person  as  pre 
possessing,  young  Tazewell  was  worthy  of  the  distinction.  A  mutual 
respect  and  friendship  grew  up  between  them,  which  lasted  to  the  end 


22  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

of  Mr.  Randolph's  life  ;  and  the  recollection  of  which  is  still  warmly 
preserved  by  the  noble  survivor.  In  a  manner  peculiar  to  John 
Randolph,  this  early  attachment  was  often  called  to  remembrance, 
and  cherished.  Near  forty  years  afterwards,  when  he  had  heard  a 
lady  sing  some  Scotch  airs,  he  wrote  to  a  friend :  "  Among  others  she 
sang  '  There's  nae  luck  aboot  the  house'  very  well,  and  '  Auld  Lang 
Syne.'  When  she  came  to  the  lines : 

'  We  twa  ha'e  paidlet  in  the  burn, 
Frae  morning  sun  till  dine,' 

I  cast  my  mind's  eye  around  for  such  a  "  trusty  feese/'  and  could  light 
only  on  Tazewell  (who,  God  be  praised,  is  here),  and  you  may  judge 
how  we  met." 

In  the  spring  of  1784,  after  he  had  been  in  Williamsburg  a  little 
more  than  one  year,  John  Randolph  was  taken  away  from  school. 
His  parents  went  on  a  visit  to  Mr.  Tucker's  friends  in  the  island  of 
Bermuda,  and  as  John's  health  was  very  delicate,  they  took  him  along 
with  them.  When  about  to  take  his  leave,  he  proposed  to  young 
Tazewell  that  they  should  exchange  class-books,  that  each  might  have 
some  testimonial  of  their  mutual  friendship  and  of  its  origin. 

They  accordingly  exchanged  Sallusts.  Not  many  years  since, 
while  he  was  in  Norfolk,  preparing  to  depart  on  his  mission  to  Rus 
sia,  he  showed  Mr.  Tazewell  the  identical  Sallust  he  (Tazewell)  had 
given  him.  On  the  fly-leaf  of  the  book  he  had  written,  at  the  time 
he  received  it,  how,  when,  and  from  whom* he  had  acquired  it.  To 
this  he  had  added  this  hexameter :  "  Coelum  non  animum  mutant 
qui  transmare  currunt." 

He  continued  abroad  more  than  eighteen  months,  and  not  having 
the  advantage  of  daily  recitation,  the  Greek  language,  which  he  had 
begun  so  successfully  to  acquire  in  his  promenades  around  Lord 
Bottetourt's  statue,  was  entirely  effaced  from  his  memory ;  and  he 
barely  kept  alive  the  more  extensive  knowledge  he  had  acquired  of 
the  La'tin.  Though  these  newly  acquired  elements  of  learning  were 
readily  abandoned,  and  easily  effaced,  pursuits  more  genial  to  his 
taste  were  followed  with  unabated  vigor.  Poetry  continued  to  be  the 
charm  of  his  life.  While  abroad,  he  read  Chatterton  and  Rowley,  and 
Young  and  Gay.  Percy's  Reliques  and  Chaucer  then  became  his 
great  favorites.  On  his  return  to  Virginia,  in  the  latter  part  of  1 785, 


AT  SCHOOL.  23 

we  do  not  learn  that  lie  returned  to  Walker  Mauray's  school  in 
Williamsburg ;  on  the  contrary,  we  presume  he  did  not,  for  he  then 
would  have  formed  an  acquaintance  in  early  youth  with  John 
Brockenbrough,  the  most  intimate  friend  of  his  after  life. 

The  letter  from  which  the  above  paragraph  was  taken  continues 
in  this  wise :  "  During  the  time  that  Dr.  Brockenbrough  was  at 
Walter  Mauray's  school  (from  the  spring  of  1784,  to  the  end  of 
1785),  I  was  in  Bermuda;  and  (although  he  was  well  acquainted 
with  both  my  brothers)  our  acquaintance  did  not  begin  until  nearly 
twenty  years  afterwards.  Do  you  know  that  I  am  childish  enough 
to  regret  this  very  sensibly  ?  for,  although  I  cannot  detract  from  the 
esteem  or  regard  in  which -I  hold  him,  or  lessen  the  value  I  set  upon 
his  friendship,  yet,  had  I  known  him  then,  I  think  I  should  enjoy 
'  Auld  Lang  Syne  '  more,  when  I  hear  it  sung,  or  hum  it  to  myself, 
as  I  often  do." 

How  he  spent  the  next  twelve  or  eighteen  months  after  his  re 
turn  from  Bermuda,  we  have  not  been  able  to  learn.  When  we 
see  him  again  it  is  at  Princeton  College,  in  the  autumn  of  1787.  The 
manner  in  which  he  spent  his  time  there  and  at  Columbia  College, 
New-York,  shall  be  given  in  his  own  words. 

"  My  mother  once  expressed  a  wish  to  me,  that  I  might  one  day 
or  other  be  as  great  a  speaker  as  Jerman  Baker  or  Edmund  Ran 
dolph  !  That  gave  the  bent  to  my  disposition.  At  Princeton  Col 
lege,  where  I  spent  a  few  months  (1787),  the  prize  of  elocution  was 
borne  away  by  mouthers  and  ranters.  I  never  would  speak  if  I 
could  possibly  avoid  it,  and  when  I  could  not,  repeated,  without  ges 
ture,  the  shortest  piece  that  I  had  committed  to  memory.  I  remem 
ber  some  verses  from  Pope,  and  the  first  anonymous  letter  from 
Newberg,  made  up  the  sum  and  substance  of  my  spoutings,  and  I 
can  yet  repeat  much  of  the  first  epistle  (to  Lord  Chatham)  of  the 
former,  and  a  good  deal  of  the  latter.  I  was  then  as  conscious  of  my 
superiority  over  my  competitors  in  delivery  and  elocution,  as  I  am 
now  that  they  are  sunk  in  oblivion ;  and  I  despised  the  award  and 
the  umpires  in  the  bottom  of  iny  heart.  I  believe  that  there  is  no 
where  such  foul  play  as  among  professors  and  schoolmasters ;  more 
especially  if  they  are  priests.  I  have  had  a  contempt  for  college 
honors  ever  since. 

My  mother's  death  drew  me  from  Princeton,  (where  I  had  been 


24  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

forced  to  be  idle,  being  put  into  a  noisy  wretched  grammar  school 
for  Dr.  Witherspoon's  emolument :  I  was  ten  times  a  better  scholar 
than  the  master  of  it,)  and  in  June,  1788,  I  was  sent  to  Columbia 
College,  New- York ;  just  then  having  completed  my  fifteenth  year. 
Never  did  higher  literary  ambition  burn  in  human  bosom.  Colum 
bia  College,  New-York,  was  just  rising  out  of  chaos ;  but  there  was 
an  Irishman  named  Cochran,  who  was  our  humanity  professor. 

I  now  (July,  1788)  mastered  the  Eaton  grammar,  and  gave  Coch 
ran,  who  was  a  scholar,  "and  a  ripe  and  good  one,"  a  half-joe,  out  of 
my  own  pocket,  for  months,  to  give  me  private  lessons.  We  read 
Demosthenes  together,  and  I  used  to  cry  for  indignation  at  the  suc 
cess  of  Philip's  arts  and  arms  over  the  liberties  of  Greece.  But 
some  disgust  induced  my  master  to  remove  to  Nova  Scotia,  where  a 
professor's  chair  was  offered  him,  about  three  months  after  I  joecame 
his  pupil.  Next  to  the  loss  of  my  mother,  and  my  being  sent  to 
Walker  Mauray's  school  (and  one  other  that  I  shall  not  name),  this 
was  the  greatest  misfortune  of  my  life. 

"  Unhappily,  my  poor  brother  Theodorick,  who  was  two  years  older 
than  myself,  had  a  strong  aversion  to  books  and  a  decided  taste  for 
pleasure.  Often  when  I  had  retreated  from  him  and  his  convivial 
associates  to  my  little  study,  has  he  forced  the  lock,  taken  away  my 
book,  and  rendered  further  prosecution  of  my  purpose  impossible. 
From  that  time  forward  I  began  to  neglect  study  (Cochran  left  no 
one  but  Dr.  Johnson,  the  president,  of  any  capacity  behind  him,  and 
he  was  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  from  March,  1789),  read 
only  the  trash  of  the  circulating  library,  and  never  have  read  since, 
except  for  amusement,  unless  for  a  few  weeks  at  Williamsburg  at 
the  close  of  1793  ;  and  all  my  dear  mother's  fond  anticipations  and 
all  my  own  noble  and  generous  aspirations  have  been  quenched ; 
and  if  not  entirely — if  a  single  spark  or  languid  flame  yet  burns — it 
is  owing  to  my  accidental  election  to  Congress  five  and  twenty  years 
ago." 

He  was  recalled  from  Princeton  by  the  death  of  his  mother, 
That  sad  event  took  place  the  18th  of  January,  1788.  She  was  but 
thirty-six  years  old  when  she  died.  Cut  off  in  the  bloom  of  youth 
and  beauty,  he  ever  retained  a  most  vivid  and  impassioned  remem 
brance  of  her  person,  her  charms,  and  her  virtues.  He  always  kept 
her  portrait  hanging  before  him  in  his  chamber.  Though  he  was 


AT  SCHOOL.  25 

not  yet  fifteen  years  old,  the  loss  to  him  was  irreparable.  She  knew 
him  ;  she  knew  the  delicacy  of  his  frame,  the  tenderness  of  his  heart, 
the  irritability  of  his  temper  5  and  she  alone  could  sympathize  with 
him.  Many  years  after  this  event — the  day  after  his  duel  with  Mr. 
Clay — while  reflecting  on  the  narrow  escape  he  had  made  with  his 
life,  and  the  professions  of  men  who  disappear  in  such  an  hour  of 
trial,  his  mind  naturally  reverted  to  his  dear  mother,  who  understood 
and  never  forsook  him  ;  he  wrote  thus  to  a  friend :  "  I  am  a  fatalist. 
I  am  all  but  friendless.  Only  one  human  being  ever  knew  me.  She 
only  knew  me."  That  human  being  was  his  mother !  The  loss  to 
him  was  irreparable  ;  nor  did  he  ever  cease  to  mourn  over  it.  Rarely 
did  he  come  to  Petersburg  or  its  vicinity,  that  he  did  not  visit  old 
Matoax,  in  its  wasted  solitude,  and  shed  tears  over  the  grave  of  those 
honored  parents,  by  whose  side  it  was  the  last  wish  of  his  heart  to 
be  buried. 

The  spring  of  the  year  1788  was  spent  in  Virginia.  It  does  not 
appear  that  he  was  engaged  in  any  regular  course  of  study.  Much 
of  his  time,  as  was  his  custom  whenever  he  could,  was  devoted  to 
friendship.  He  spent  several  weeks  of  this  vacation  with  young 
Tazewell,  at  his  father's  house,  in  Williamsburg.  While  there,  he 
discoursed  at  large  'on  the  various  incidents  he  had  met  with  while 
abroad  in  Bermuda,  and  at  college  in  Princeton,  thus  early  display 
ing  that  faculty  of  observation  and  fluent  narrative  that  in  after 
years  rendered  his  conversation  so  brilliant  and  captivating.  After 
his  departure  on  the  present  occasion,  he  commenced  a  correspond 
ence,  which,  with  short  intervals,  was  kept  up  through  life.  Such 
was  Mr.  Tazewell's  reputation  for  profound  learning  on  all  subjects 
touching  the  laws  and  the  Constitution  of  the  country,  that  Mr. 
Randolph  consulted  him  on  every  important  occasion  as  it  arose  in 
Congress.  Often  in  one  line  would  he  propound  an  inquiry  that  cost 
his  friend  weeks  of  investigation  to  answer.  His  own  early  letters 
displayed  an  inquiring  mind  far  beyond  his  years.  In  his  first  let 
ter,  written  on  his  arrival  in  New- York  (June,  1788),  he  stated  that 
alien  duties  had  been  exacted  by  the  custom-house  there,  not  only 
upon  the  vessel  in  which  he  had  taken  his  passage,  which  was  owned 
in  Virginia,  but  upon  the  passengers  on  board  of  her,  all  of  whom 
were  natives  of  Virginia.  This  statement  was  accompanied  by  many 
reflections,  designed  to  show  the  impolicy  of  such  exactions  on  the 

VOL.  i.  2 


26  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

part  of  New-York,  and  the  ill  effects  that  would  result  from  persist 
ing  in  such  a  course.  This  incident  took  place  before  the  adoption 
of  the  present  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  when  the  sub 
ject  of  it  was  just  fifteen  years  old.  It  is  mentioned  merely  to  show 
"  the  precocious  proclivity"  of  John  Randolph  to  the  investigation  of 
political  subjects. 

Another  letter  addressed  to  the  same  friend,  was  confined  to  an 
account  of  the  first  inauguration  of  General  Washington  as  President 
of  the  United  States,  which  took  place  the  30th  of  April,  1789,  in 
the  city  of  New- York.  John  Randolph  was  an  eye-witness  of  the 
scene.  His  letter  contained  a  narrative  of  many  minute  but  very 
interesting  incidents  that  do  not  appear  in  any  of  our  public  records 
or  histories.  This  narrative,  being  written  at  the  moment  such  inci 
dents  occurred,  by  an  ingenuous  youth,  an  eye-witness  of  the  events, 
had  an  air  of  freshness  and  truthfulness  about  it  that  was  most  cap 
tivating.  As  the  letter  related  to  nothing  but  matters  of  general 
interest,  young  Tazewell  showed  it  to  his  father,  who  was  so  much 
pleased  with  it,  that  shortly  afterwards  he  requested  his  son  to  read 
it  to  a  party  of  friends  who  were  dining  with  him.  The  late  Colonel 
James  Innis,  the  attorney-general,  was  one  of .  the  party.  He  was 
considered,  at  that  time,  the  most  eloquent  speaker,  and  the  best  belles- 
lettres  scholar  in  Virginia.  Colonel  Innis  was  so  much  pleased  with 
the  letter,  that  he  took  it  from  the  hands  of  the  owner,  and  read  it 
over  and  over  again,  pronouncing  it  to  be  a  model  of  such  writing, 
and  recommended  to  the  young  man  to  preserve  it,  and  study  its  style. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  ITS  CHRYSALIS  STATE. 

No  man  with  a  growing  intellect  was  ever  content  with  his  early 
education.  The  boy  turns  a  contemptuous  look  on  the  swaddlings  of 
infancy.  The  wisest  instruction  is  so  inadequate  to  the  wants  of  the 
human  mind,  that  when  one  grows  up  to  manhood  he  looks  back  with 
mortification  on  the  dark  gropings  of  youthful  ignorance,  and  with 


THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  ITS  CHRYSALIS  STATE.  27 

disgust  on  the  time  and  effort  wasted  in  pursuing  barren  paths, 
where  experience  taught  him  no  truth  could  be  found.  John  Ran 
dolph  was  not  singular  in  lamenting  that  he  had  disappointed  the 
fond  anticipations  of  his  friends,  and  mourning  that  "  all  his  noble 
and  generous  aspirations  had  been  quenched."  Had  Theodorick 
and  his  noisy  companions  left  the  ambitious  student  alone  to  his 
books  and  his  closet,  we  should  still  have  heard  the  same  complaint. 
No  attainment  can  satisfy  the  aspirations  of  genius.  But  it  is  true 
he  was  not  without  just  cause  of  discontent.  His  frequent  changes 
of  school,  not  less  than  five  times  in  as  many  years  ;  the  long  inter 
ruptions  thereby  occasioned — by  his  travels  abroad,  the  death  of  his 
mother,  and  the  daily  vexations  of  ill  health  and  of  noisy  companions, 
with  whom  he  was  compelled  to  associate — rendered  it  impossible  for 
him  to  give  that  continuous  and  ardent  devotion  to  study  which  is 
indispensable  to  mental  discipline,  and  the  acquisition  of  learning. 
In  disgust  he  gave  up  the  effort,  and  abandoned  himself  to  the  loose 
habit  of  promiscuous  reading.  His  classical  studies,  so  often  inter 
rupted,  were  finally  closed  before  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age.  "  I 
am  an  ignorant  man,  sir  !"  though  sounding  like  sarcasm  from  his 
lips,  was  uttered  with  sincerity.  Though  the  broad  foundation  of 
solid  learning  was  wanting  to  him,  his  active  and  inquiring  mind 
was  scarcely  conscious  of  the  deficiency.  Nature  had  designed  him 
for  a  statesman ;  he  was  eminently  a  practical  man,  and  drew  his 
lessons  of  wisdom  from  experience  and  observation.  He  was,  while 
yet  a  youth,  in  daily  intercourse  with  statesmen  and  men  of  learning. 
He  enjoyed  great  and  rare  opportunities  for  acquiring  information  on 
those  subjects  towards  which  his  mind  had  "  a  precocious  pro 
clivity."  Practical  politics,  and  the  science  of  government,  were  the 
daily  themes  of  the  statesmen  with  whom  he  associated.  He  was  a 
constant  attendant  on  the  sittings  of  the  first  Congress.  He  was  in 
Federal  Hall,  the  4th  of  March,  1789,  when  only  thirteen  members 
of  the  new  Congress  under  our  present  Constitution  appeared  and 
took  their  seats.  Two  only  presented  themselves  from  the  south 
side  of  the  Potomac  ;  Alexander  White,  from  Virginia,  and  Thomas 
Tudor  Tucker,  fr,om  South  Carolina.  Mr.  Tucker  was  the  brother 
of  St.  George  Tucker,  the  father-in-law  of  John  Randolph.  The 
14th  of  March,  Richard  Bland  Lee,  a  cousin  of  John  Randolph, 
Mr.  Madison,  and  John  Page,  from  Virginia,  entered  the  hall,  and 


28  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

cheered  the  hearts  of  those  who  had  assembled  from  day  to  day  for 
more  than  a  week  without  a  quorum,  and  were  beginning  to  despond 
and  doubt  lest  this  new  government  might  prove  a  failure.  The  30th 
of  March,  Col.  Theodorick  Bland,  the  uncle  of  John  Randolph, 
made  his  appearance  It  was  not  till  the  1st  of  April,  nearly  a 
month  after  the  time  appointed  by  the  Constitution,  that  a  quorum 
was  obtained,  and  the  House  organized  for  business.  Such  was  the 
feeble  and  doubtful  infancy  of  this  great  and  growing  Republic.  "  I  was 
at  Federal  Hall,"  said  Randolph  once  in  a  speech  to  his  constituents  ; 
"  I  saw  Washington,  but  could  not  hear  him  take  the  oath  to  support 
the  Federal  Constitution.  The  Constitution  was  in  its  chrysalis 
state.  I  saw  what  Washington  did  not  see  ;  but  two  other  men  in 
Virginia  saw  it — George  Mason  and  Patrick  Henry — the  poison 
under  its  wings."  That  this  was  no  vain  boasting  in  a  boy  cf  six 
teen,  the  reader  will  soon  see. 

The  arduous  and  responsible  task  of  organizing  a  new  govern 
ment  devolved  on  the  first  Congress.  In  that  body  were  a  number 
of  men  who  preferred  the  Old  Confederation,  with  some  modifica 
tions  to  give  it  energy ;  and  were  strenuously  opposed  to  a  strong 
centralizing  system,  such  as  they  apprehended  the  new  government 
to  be.  They,  therefore,  looked  with  watchfulness  and  jealousy  on 
every  step  that  was  taken  in  its  organization.  The  most  prominent 
among  those  who  thus  early  opposed  the  assumptions  of  federal 
power,  were  Theodorick  Bland  and  Thomas  Tudor  Tucker,  the  two 
uncles  of  John  Randolph.  Col.  Bland  was  a  great  admirer  and  fol 
lower  of  Patrick  Henry.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  that 
met,  June,  1788,  in  Richmond,  to  ratify  the  new  Constitution.  It  is 
well  known  that  Patrick  Henry  opposed  the  ratification  with  all 
his  eloquence.  The  very  day  in  which  he  shook  the  capitol  with  a 
power  not  inferior  to  that  with  which  he  set  the  ball  of  Revolution 
in  motion,  Col.  Bland,  writing  to  a  friend,  says  :  "  I  see  my  country 
on  the  point  of  embarking  and  launching  into  a  troubled  ocean, 
without  chart  or  compass,  to  direct  her  ;  one  half  of  her  crew  hoist 
ing  sail  for  the  land  of  energy,  and  the  other  looking  with  a  longing 
aspect  on  the  shore  of  liberty."  After  declaring  that  the  Conven 
tion  which  framed  the  Constitution  had  transcended  its  powers. 
Patrick  Henry  exclaimed  :  '  It  is  most  clearly  a  consolidated  gov 
ernment.  I  need  not  take  much  pains  to  show  that  the  principles  of 


THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  ITS  CHRYSALIS  STATE.  29 

this  system  are  extremely  pernicious,  impolitic,  and  dangerous.  We 
have  no  detail  of  those  great  considerations  which,  in  my  opinion, 
ought  to  have  abounded  before  we  should  recur  to  a  government  of 
this  kind.  Here  is  a  revolution  as  radical  as  that  which  separated 
us  from  Great  Britain.  It  is  as  radical,  if  in  this  transition  our 
rights  and  privileges  are  endangered,  and  the  sovereignty  of  the 
States  be  relinquished  :  and  cannot  we  plainly  see  that  this  is  actu 
ally  the  case  1  Is  this  tame  relinquishment  of  rights  worthy  of  free 
men  ?  Is  it  worthy  of  that  manly  fortitude  that  ought  to  charac 
terize  republicans?  The  Confederation — this  same  despised  gov 
ernment — merits,  in  my  opinion,  the  highest  encomium  :  it  carried 
us  through  a  long  and  dangerous  war  ;  it  rendered  us  victoiious  in 
that  bloody  conflict  with  a  powerful  nation;  it  has  secured  us  a 
territory  greater  than  any  European  monarch  possesses :  and  shall  a 
government  which  has  been  thus  strong  and  vigorous,  be  accused 
of  imbecility,  and  abandoned  for  want  of  energy  ?  Consider  what 
you  are  about  to  do  before  you  part  with  this  government."  "  It  is 
now  confessed  that  the  new  government  is  national.  There  is  not  a 
single  federal  feature  in  it.  It  has  been  alleged  within  these  walls, 
during  the  debates,  to  be  national  and  federal,  as  it  suited  the  argu 
ments  of  gentlemen.  But  now  when  we  have  the  definition  of  it,  it 
is  purely  national.  The  honorable  member  was  pleased  to  say,  that 
the  sword  and  purse  included  every  thing  of  consequence.  And 
shall  we  trust  them  out  of  our  hands  without  checks  and  barriers  1 
The  sword  and  purse  are  essentially  necessary  for  the  government. 
Every  essential  requisite  must  be  in  Congress.  Where  are  the 
purse  and  sword  of  Virginia  ?  -They  must  go  to  Congress.  What  is 
become  of  your  country?  The  Virginian  government  is  but  a 
name.  We  should  be  thought  unwise  indeed  to  keep  two  hundred 
legislators  in  Virginia,  when  the  government  is,  in  fact,  gone  to 
Philadelphia,  or  New-York.  We  are  as  a  State  to  form  no  part  of 
the  government.  Where  are  your  checks  ?  The  most  essential 
objects  of  government  are  to  be  administered  by  Congress.  How 
then  can  the  State  governments  be  any  check  upon  them  ?  If  we 
are  to  be  a  republican  government,  it  will  be  consolidated,  not  con 
federated.  This  is  not  imaginary  ;  it  is  a  formidable  reality.  If 
consolidation  proves  to  be  as  mischievous  to  this  country  as  it  has 
been  to  other  countries,  what  will  the  poor  inhabitants  of  this 


30  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

country  do  ?  This  government  will  operate  like  an  ambuscade.  It 
will  destroy  the  State  governments,  and  swallow  the  liberties  of  the 
people,  without  giving  them  previous  notice.  If  gentlemen  are 
willing  to  run  the  hazard,  let  them  run  it ;  but  I  shall  exculpate 
myself  by  my  opposition,  and  monitory  warnings,  within  these  walls. 
Another  gentleman  tells  us  that  no  inconvenience  will  result  from 
the  exercise  of  the  power  of  taxation  by  the  general  government. 
A  change  of  government  will  not  pay  money.  If  from  the  probable 
amount  of  the  import,  you  take  the  enormous  and  extravagant 
expenses,  which  will  certainly  attend  the  support  of  this  great  con 
solidated  government,  I  believe  you  will  find  no  reduction  of  the 
public  burdens  by  this  new  system.  The  splendid  maintejance  of 
the  President,  and  of  the  members  of  both  Houses  ;  and  the  salaries 
and  fees  for  the  swarm  of  officers  and  dependents  on  the  Govern 
ment,  will  cost  this  continent  immense  sums.  After  satisfying  their 
uncontrolled  demands,  what  can  be  left  for  the  States?  Not  a 
sufficiency  even  to  defray  the  expense  of  their  internal  administra 
tion.  They  must,  therefore,  glide  imperceptibly  and  gradually  out 
of  existence.  This,  Sir,  must  naturally  terminate  in  a  consolidation. 
If  this  will  do  for  other  people,  it  will  never  do  for  me.  I  never 
will  give  up  that  darling  word  requisition  ;  my  country  may  give  it 
up  ;  a  majority  may  wrest  it  from  me ;  but  I  never  will  give  it  up 
till  my  grave.  The  power  of  direct  taxation  was  called  by  the 
honorable  gentleman  the  soul  of  the  government :  another  gentle 
man  called  it  the  lungs  of  the  government.  We  all  agree  that  it  is 
the  most  important  part  of  the  body  politic.  If  the  power  of  raising 
money  be  necessary  for  the  general  government,  it  is  no  less  so  for 
the  States.  Must  I  give  my  soul — my  lungs  to  Congress  ?  Con 
gress  must  have  our  souls ;  the  State  must  have  our  souls.  These 
two  co-ordinate,  interfering,  unlimited  powers  of  harassing  the  com 
munity  are  unexampled ;  it  is  unprecedented  in  history ;  they  are 
the  visionary  projects  of  modern  politicians.  Tell  me  not  of  imagi 
nary  means,  but  of  reality :  this  political  solecism  will  never  tend  to 
the  benefit  of  the  community.  It  will  be  as  oppressive  in  practice 
as  it  is  absurd  in  theory.  If  you  part  from  this,  which  the  honor 
able  gentleman  tells  you  is  the  soul  of  Congress,  you  will  be  inevita 
bly  ruined.  I  tell  you  they  shall  not  have  the  soul  of  Virginia." 
After  speaking  of  the  "  awful  squinting  towards  monarchy"  in  the 


THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  ITS  CHRYSALIS  STATE.  3^ 

executive  ;  and  of  the  great  powers  conferred  on  the  judiciary,  Mr. 
Henry  concluded  in  one  of  those  bursts  of  rapt  eloquence,  which 
can  only  be  compared  to  the  eloquence  of  Demosthenes,  when  on  a 
similar  occasion — in  a  last  appeal  to  his  countrymen  to  defend  them 
selves  against  the  invasion  of  Philip — he  called  on  the  spirits  of  the 
mighty  dead,  those  who  fell  at  Thermopylae,  at  Salamis,  and  at  Ma 
rathon,  to  rise  and  protect  their  country  against  the  arts  and  arms 
of  the  Macedonian  Tyrant. 

"  The  gentleman,  tells  you,-  .said  Mr.  Henry,  "  of  important 
blessings  which  he  imagines  will  result  to  us,  and  to  mankind  in  gene 
ral,  from  the  adoption  of  this  system.  I  see  the  awful  immensity  of 
the  dangers  with  which  it  is  pregnant.  I  see  it, — I  feel  it.  I  see 
beings  of  a  far  higher  order  anxious  concerning  our  decision.  When 
I  see  beyond  the  horizon  that  bounds  human  eyes,  and  look  at  the 
final  consummation  of  all  human  things,  and  see  those  intelligent 
beings  which  inhabit  the  ethereal  mansions,  reviewing  the  political 
divisions  and  revolutions  which  in  the  progress  of  time  will  happen  in 
America,  and  the  consequent  happiness  or  misery  of  mankind,  I  am  led 
to  believe,  that  much  of  the  account,  on  one  side  or  the  other,  will  de 
pend  on  what  we  now  decide.  Our  own  happiness  alone  is  not  affected 
by  the  event.  All  nations  are  interested  in  the  determination.  We 
have  it  in  our  power  to  secure  the  happiness  of  one  half  of  the  human 
race.  Its  adoption  may  involve  the  misery  of  the  other  hemispheres." 

When  the  vote  was  about  to  be  taken  on  the  ratification,  Patrick 
Henry,  seconded  by  Theodorick  Bland,  moved  a  resolution,  "  That 
previous  to  the  ratification  of  the  new  constitution  of  government 
recommended  by  the  late  Federal  Convention,  a  declaration  of  rights 
asserting  and  securing  from  encroachment  the  great  principles  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  the  inalienable  rights  of  the  people, 
together  with  amendments  to  the  most  exceptionable  parts  of  the 
said  constitution  of  government,  ought  to  be  referred  by  this  con 
vention  to  the  other  States  in  the  American  confederacy  for  their 
consideration."  This  resolution  was  lost  by  a  majority  of  eight  votes. 
Many  who  voted  for  it  were  members  of-  the  first  Congress ;  and 
some  of  'them  were  among  the  most  influential  and  distinguished 
men  in  Virginia.  William  Cabell,  Samuel  Jordan  Cabell,  Benjamin 
Harrison,  John  Tyler,  father  of  the  late  President,  Isaac  Coles, 
Stephen  Thompson  Mason,  Abraham  Twigg,  Patrick  Henry,  Theo- 


•  * 

32  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

dorick  Bland,  William  Grayson,  James  Monroe,  and  George  Mason. 
These  same  persons  voted  against  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution, 
which  was  only  carried  by  a  majority  of  ten.  So  great  was  the  im 
pression  made  on  the  public  mind  by  the  arguments  in  the  Conven 
tion  against  the  evil  tendencies  of  the  Constitution,  that  a  majority 
of  the  Virginia  Legislature  that  met  the  ensuing  October,  to  appoint 
senators,  and  pass  laws  for  electing  members  of  Congress,  was  de 
cidedly  anti-federal ;  that  is,  opposed  to  the  Constitution,  as  it  came 
from  the  hands  of  its  framers,  without  important  modifications. 
Patrick  Henry  was  the  master  spirit  of  that  assembly.  He  was 
offered  a  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States ;  but  he  declined  it, 
as  he  had  previously  declined  a  seat  in  the  Federal  Convention. 
Through  his  influence  the  appointment  of  senator  was  conferred  on 
William  Grayson,  and  on  Richard  Henry  Lee. 

Mr.  Grayson  distinguished  himself  in  the  Virginia  Convention 
by  a  very  elaborate  analysis  of  the  n«w  Constitution,  pointing 
out  its  defects,  and  illustrating  by  history  its  dangerous  tendencies 
He  gave  utterance  to  a  prediction,  which  many  believe  has  been 
in  the  daily  process  of  fulfilment  from  that  time  to  the  present 
moment.  "  But  my  greatest  objection  is,"  says  he,  speaking  of 
the  Constitution,  "that  it  will,  in  its  operation,  be  found  un 
equal,  grievous,  and  oppressive.  If  it  have  any  efficacy  at  all,  it 
must  be  by  a  faction — a  faction  of  one  part  of  the  Union  against 
the  other.  There  is  a  great  difference  of  circumstances  between  the 
States.  The  interest  of  the  carrying  States  (since  manufacturing 
States)  is  strikingly  different  from  that  of  the  producing  States.  I 
mean  not  to  give  offence  to  any  part  of  America,  but  mankind  are 
governed  by  interest.  The  carrying  States  will  assuredly  unite,  and 
our  situation  will  then  be  wretched  indeed.  Every  measure  will 
have  for  its  object  their  particular  interest.  Let  ill-fated  Ireland  be 
ever  present  to  our  view.  I  hope  that  my  fears  are  groundless,  but 
I  believe  it  as  I  do  my  creed,  that  this  government  will  operate  as 
a  faction  of  seven  States  to  oppress  the  rest  of  the  Union.  But  it 
may  be  said,  that  we  are  represented,  and  cannot  therefore  be  in 
jured — a  poor  representation  it  will  be !  The  British  would  have 
been  glad  to  take  America  into  the  Union  like  the  Scotch,  by  giving 
us  a  small  representation.  The  Irish  might  be  indulged  with  the 
same  favor  by  asking  for  it.  (As  they  have  done,  and  with  what 


THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  ITS  CHRYSALIS  STATE.  33 

result?)  Will  that  lessen  our  misfortunes?  A  small  representation 
gives  a  pretence  to  injure  and  destroy.  But,  sir,  the  Scotch  Union 
is  introduced  by  an  honorable  gentleman  as  an  argument  in  favor  of 
adoption.  Would  he  wish  his  country  to  be  on  the  same  foundation 
with  Scotland  ?  They  have  but  45  members  in  the  House  of  Com 
mons,  and  16  in  the  House  of  Lords.  They  go  up  regularly  in  order 
to  be  bribed.  The  smallness  of  their  number  puts  it  out  of  their 
power  to  carry  any  measure.  And  this  unhappy  nation  exhibits  the 
only  instance,  perhaps,  in  the  world,  where  corruption  becomes  a 
virtue.  I  devoutly  pray,  that  this  description  of  Scotland  may  not 
be  picturesque  of  the  Southern  States,  in  three  years  from  this  time." 

The  other  senator  from  Virginia  was  Richard  Henry  Lee.  He 
stood  by  Patrick  Henry  from  the  commencement  of  our  revolutionary 
struggles  to  their  end.  He  was  one  of  the  first  delegates  to  the  first 
Congress.  His  name  appears  on  almost  all  the  important  committees 
of  that  body.  He  was  selected  by  the  Virginia  delegation  to  move 
the  declaration  of  independence.  For  his  patriotism,  statesmanship, 
and  oratory,  he  was  regarded  as  the  Cicero  of  his  age.  His  classical 
and  chaste  elocution  possessed  a  tone  of  depth  and  inspiration  that 
charmed  his  auditory.  While  his  great  compatriot  poured  down 
upon  agitated  assemblies  a  cataract  of  mingled  passion  and  logic,  he 
awakened  the  attention,  captivated  the  heart,  and  convinced  the  un 
derstanding  of  his  hearers  by  a  regulated  flow  of  harmonious  lan 
guage,  generous  sentiment,  and  lucid-  argument.  "  In  his  personal 
character,  he  was  just,  benevolent,  and  high-spirited,  domestic  in  his 
tastes,  and  too  proud  to  be  ambitious  of  popularity."  This  distin 
guished  patriot  and  statesman  was  strenuously  opposed  to  the  Con 
stitution  as  it  came  from  the  hands  of  its  framers.  He  was  a  member 
of  Congress  to  whom  it  was  referred,  and  by  whom  it  was  expected 
to  be  recommended  to  their  respective  States.  "  When  the  plan  of  a 
Constitution,"  says  Mr.  Madison,  "  proposed  by  the  Convention  came 
before  Congress  for  their  sanction,  a  very  serious  effort  was  made  by 
Richard  Henry  Lee  to  embarrass  it.  It  was  first  contended  that 
Congress  could  not  properly  give  any  positive  countenance  to  a  measure 
which  had  for  its  object  the  subversion  of  the  Constitution  under 
which  they  acted.  This  ground  of  attack  failing,  he  then  urged  the 
expediency  of  sending  out  the  plan  with  amendments,  and  proposed 
a  number  of  them  corresponding  with  the  objections  of  Col.  Mason." 

VOL.  i.  2* 


34  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

He  then  addressed  a  letter  to  Governor  Edmund  Randolph,  of  Vir 
ginia,  who  as  a  member  of  the  Convention  had  refused  to  sign  the 
Constitution.  After  giving  his  objections  in  detail,  he  says :  "  You  are, 
therefore,  sir,  well  warranted  in  saying,  either  a  monarchy  or  aristoc 
racy  will  be  generated — perhaps  the  most  grievous  system  of  govern 
ment  will  arise.  It  cannot  be  denied  with  truth,  that  this  new  Con 
stitution  is,  in  its  first  principles,  highly  and  dangerously  oligarchic  ; 
and  it  is  a  point  agreed,  that  a  government  of  the  few,  is,  of  all 
governments,  the  worst." 

"  The  only  check  to  be  found  in  favor  of  the  democratic  principle, 
in  this  system,  is  the  House  of  Representatives ;  which,  I  believe,  may 
justly  be  called  a  mere  shred  or  rag  of  representation  ;  it  being  obvi 
ous  to  the  least  examination,  that  smallness  of  number,  and  great 
comparative  disparity  of  power,  render  that  house  of  little  effect  to 
promote  good,  or  restrain  bad  government.  But  what  is  the  power 
given  to  this  ill-constructed  body  ?  To  judge  of  what  may  be  for  the 
general  welfare,  seems  a  power  coextensive  with  every  possible  object 
of  human  legislation."  Such  were  the  first  senators  from  Virginia, 
and  of  a  like  complexion  were  a  majority  of  those  returned  to  the 
House  of  Representatives.  For  devoting  himself  so  ardently  to  the 
election  of  men  known  to  be  hostile  to  the  Constitution  as  it  stood, 
Mr.  Henry  was  charged  with  a  design  of  subverting  that  which  he 
could  not  prevent.  It  is  said  that  his  avowed  attachment  to  the  con 
federation  was  mere  hypocrisy ;  that  he  secretly  rejoiced  in  its  imbe 
cility,  and  did  not  desire  a  union  of  the  States  under  any  form  of 
government.  He  was  attacked  in  a  most  virulent  and  personal  man 
ner  by  a  writer  who  signed  himself  Decius.  He  charged  Mr.  Henry 
with  a  design  of  forming  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  into  one 
republic,  and  placing  himself  at  the  head  as  their  dictator.  "  Were 
I  to  draw  the  picture  of  a  tyrant  for  this  country,"  says  Decius,  "  it 
should  be  very  different  from  that  which  some  others  have  sketched 
out.  He  should  be  a  man  in  every  instance  calculated  to  soothe  and 
not  to  threaten  the  populace ;  possessing  a  humiliating  and  not  an 
arrogant  turn ;  affecting  an  entire  ignorance  and  poorness  of  capacity, 
and  not  assuming  the  superiorities  of  the  illumined ;  a  man  whose 
capacity  should  be  calculated  to  insinuate  itself  into  the  good  esteem 
of  others  by  degrees,  and  not  to  surprise  them  into  a  compliance  on 
a  sudden  ;  whose  plainness  of  manners  and  meanness  of  address  first 


GEORGE  MASON.  35 

should  move  our  compassion,  steal  upon  our  hearts,  betray  our  judg 
ments,  and  finally  run  away  with  the  whole  of  the  human  composi 
tion." 

This  description  of  the  demagogue  winning  his  way  by  affected 
humility  and  low  cunning  to  the  supreme  command,  was  intended  to 
be  applied  to  Mr.  Henry.  Many  of  his  own  expressions  are  used  in 
drawing  the  portrait,  but  no  man  less  deserved  the  epithet  of  ambi 
tious.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  delighted  to  sway  the  passions 
of  the  multitude,  and  to  influence  the  decision  of  legislative  bodies 
by  the  powers  of  his  eloquence ;  but  that  his  ambition  extended  to 
the  acquisition  of  supreme  executive  command,  there  is  not  the  slight 
est  ground  of  suspicion. 

The  virulence  with  which  he  was  assailed  must  be  attributed  to 
the  high  party  excitement  of  the  times,  which  indiscriminately 
assaulted  the  most  spotless  characters,  and  paid  no  respect  to  exalted 
services  or  venerable  age. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

GEOEGE   MASON. 

GEORGE  MASON  was  a  wise  man.  He  was  at  once  the  Solon  and  the 
Cato,  the  lawgiver  and  the  stern  patriot  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 
At  a  period  when  republics  were  to  be  founded,  and  constitutions 
of  government  ordained  for  growing  empires,  he  was  the  first  to  de 
fine  and  to  guard  with  watchful  care  the  rights  of  the  people — to 
prescribe  limitations  to  the  different  departments  of  government,  and 
to  place  restrictions  on  their  exercise  of  power.  The  Bill  of  Rights, 
and  the  Constitution  of  Virginia,  are  lasting  monuments  to  his  me 
mory.  One  sentence  of  the  former  contains  more  wisdom  and  con 
centration  of  thought,  than  all  former  writings  on  the  subject  of 
government.  The  sentence  is  this  ;  "  that  no  man  or  set  of  men  is 
entitled  to  exclusive  or  separate  emoluments,  or  privileges  from  the 
community,  but  in  consideration  of  public  services  ;  which,  not  being 
descendible,  neither  ought  the  offices  of  magistrate,  legislator,  or 


gfl  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

judge,  to  be  hereditary."  Here  is  a  volume  of  truth  and  wisdom, 
says  an  eminent  writer,  a  lesson  for  the  study  of  nations,  embodied 
in  a  single  sentence,  and  expressed  in  the  plainest  language.  If  a 
deluge  of  despotism  were  to  overspread  the  world,  and  destroy  those 
institutions  under  which  freedom  is  yet  protected,  sweeping  into  ob 
livion  every  vestige  of  their  remembrance  among  men,  could  this  sin 
gle  sentence  of  Mason  be  preserved,  it  would  be  sufficient  to  rekindle 
the  flame  of  liberty,  and  to  revive  the  race  of  freemen.  Though  Mr. 
Mason  did  not  object  to  a  union  of  the  States  for  their  mutual  de 
fence  and  welfare,  he  yet  regarded  the  commonwealth  of  Virginia  as 
his  country,  and  her  government  as  the  only  one  that  could  guarantee 
his  rights  or  protect  his  interests.  So  far  back  as  1783,  Mr.  Madi 
son,  speaking  of  him,  says,  "  his  heterodoxy  lay  chiefly  in  being  too 
little  impressed  with  the  necessity  or  the  proper  means  of  preserving 
the  confederacy."  Virginia  was  a  great  empire  within  herself,  and 
had  every  thing  to  sacrifice  in  surrendering  her  sovereignty  to  a  cen 
tral  government.  On  the  independence  of  the  States  also  rested  his 
only  hope  of  preserving  the  liberties  of  the  people.  He  entered  the 
Federal  Convention,  therefore,  in  1787,  with  a  stern  resolution  never 
to  surrender  the  sovereignty  of  the  States.  Others,  on  the  contrary, 
could  conceive  of  no  other  plan  but  a  consolidated  government,  by 
which  the  States  should  be  reduced  from  political  societies  to  mere 
municipal  corporations.  The  middle  ground  of  compromise  had  not 
yet  been  thought  of.  Mr.  Madison  had  but  a  dim  perception  of  its 
possibility.  Even  he  was  for  a  strong  government.  In  a  letter  ad 
dressed  to  Edmund  Randolph,  dated  New-York,  April  8th,  1787,  he 
says  :  "  I  hold  it  for  a  fundamental  point,  that  an  individual  indepen 
dence  of  the  States  is  utterly  irreconcilable  with  the  idea  of  an  ag 
gregate  sovereignty.  I  think,  at  the  same  time,  that  a  consolidation 
of  the  States  into  one  simple  republic,  is  not  less  unattainable  than 
it  would  be  inexpedient.  Let  it  be  tried,  then,  whether  any  middle 
ground  can  be  taken."  To  the  untiring  exertions  of  Mr.  Madison, 
both  in  the  Federal  Convention  and  in  the  Convention  of  Virginia, 
are  we  indebted  for  the  existence  of  the  Constitution.  But  to  Colo 
nel  Mason  are  we  indebted  for  the  only  democratic  and  federal  fea 
tures  it  contains.  But  for  Madison  we  should  have  been  without  a 
government ;  but  for  Mason,  that  government  would  have  crushed 
the  States,  and  swallowed  up  the  liberties  of  the  people.  To  Mason 


GEORGE  MASON.  37 

are  we  indebted  for  the  popular  election  of  members  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  the  election  of  senators  by  the  State  Legislatures, 
and  the  equal  representation  of  the  States  in  the  Senate.  In  the 
first,  there  is  some  guarantee  for  the  rights  of  the  people ;  in  the  se 
cond,  some  protection  to  the  sovereignty  and  independence  of  the 
States.  So  important  were  Mr.  Mason's  services,  that  we  must  de 
tain  the  reader  by  a  few  quotations  from  his  speeches  to  establish 
his  claim  to  the  high  distinction  here  awarded  him.  When  the 
question  of  electing  members  to  the  House  of  Representatives  by 
the  State  Legislatures  instead  of  the  people,  was  before  the  Conven 
tion,  Mr.  Mason  said :  "  Under  the  existing  Confederacy  Dongress  re 
present  the  States^  and  not  the  people  of  the  States ;  their  acts  ope 
rate  on  the  States,  and  not  on  the  individuals.  The  case  will  be 
changed  in  the  new  plan  of  government.  The  people  will  be  repre 
sented  ;  they  ought  therefore  to  choose  the  representatives.  Much," 
he  said,  "  had  been  alleged  against  democratic  elections.  He  ad 
mitted  that  much  might  be  said  ;  but  it  was  to  be  considered  that  no 
government  was  free  from  imperfections  and  evils,  and  that  improper 
elections,  in  many  instances,  were  inseparable  from  republican  gov 
ernments.  But  compare  these  with  the  advantage  of  this  form,  in 
favor  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  in  favor  of  human  nature  !"  Mr. 
Mason  urged  the  necessity  of  retaining  the  election  by  the  people. 
"  Whatever  inconvenience  may  attend  the  democratic  principle,  it 
must  actuate  one  part  of  the  government.  It  is  the  only  security  for 
the  rights  of  the  people." 

When  the  organization  of  the  Senate  was  under  consideration, 
Mr.  Mason  said,  "  he  never  would  agree  to  abolish  the  State  Gov 
ernments,  or  render  them  absolutely  insignificant.  They  were  as 
necessary  as  the  General  Government,  and  he  would  be  equally  care 
ful  to  preserve  them.  He  was  aware  of  the  difficulty  of  drawing  the 
line  between  them,  but  hoped  it  was  not  insurmountable.  It  has 
been  argued  on  all  hands,  that  an  efficient  government  is  necessary ; 
that  to  render  it  such,  it  ought  to  have  the  faculty  of  self-defence  ; 
that  to  render  its  different  branches  effectual,  each  of  them  ought  to 
have  the  same  power  of  self-defence.  He  did  not  wonder  that  such 
an  argument  should  have  prevailed  on  these  points.  He  only  won 
dered  that  there  should  be  any  disagreement  about  the  necessity  of 
allowing  the  State  governments  the  same  self-defence.  If  they  are 


38  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

to  be  preserved,  as  he  conceived  to  be  essential,  they  certainly  ought 
to  have  this  power  ;  and  the  only  mode  left  of  giving  it  to  them,  was 
by  allowing  them  to  appoint  the  second  branch  of  the  National  Le 
gislature."  Dr.  Johnson  said :  "  The  controversy  must  be  endless 
while  gentlemen  differ  in  the  grounds  of  their  arguments  ;  those  on 
one  side  considering  the  States  as  districts  of  people  composing  one 
political  society ;  those  on  the  other,  considering  them  as  so  many 
political  societies.  The  fact  is,  that  the  States  do  exist  as  political 
societies,  and  a  government  is  to  be  formed  for  them  in  their  politi 
cal  capacity,  as  well  as  for  the  individuals  composing  them.  Does  it 
not  seem  to  follow,  that  if  the  States,  as  such,  are  to  exist,  they  must 
be  armed  with  some  power  of  self-defence  ?  This  is  the  idea  of  Co 
lonel  Mason,  who  appears  to  have  looJced  to  the  bottom  of  this  matter. 
Besides  the  aristocratic  and  other  interests,  which  ought  to  have  the 
means  of  defending  themselves,  the  States  have  their  interests  as 
such,  and  are  equally  entitled  to  like  means.  On  the  whole  he 
thought,  that,  as  in  some  respects  the  States  are  to  be  considered  in 
their  political  capacity,  and  in  others  as  districts  of  individual  citi 
zens,  the  two  ideas  embraced  on  different  sides,  instead  of  being  op 
posed  to  each  other,  ought  to  be  combined  ;  that  in  one  branch  the 
people  ought  to  be  represented,  in  the  other  the  States" 

Notwithstanding  Col.  Mason  labored  to  modify  the  Constitution 
through  its  various  stages,  as  much  as  he  could  in  favor  of  liberty 
and  the  independence  of  the  States,  he  finally  voted  against  it.  His 
objections  were  radical,  extending  to  every  department  of  govern 
ment.  He  objected  to  the  unlimited  powers  of  taxation,  conferred 
on  a  House  of  Representatives,  which  was  but  the  shadow  of  repre 
sentation,  and  could  never  inspire  confidence  in  the  people.  He  ob 
jected  to  the  marriage,  as  he  called  it,  between  the  President  and  the 
Senate,  and  the  extraordinary  powers  conferred  on  the  latter.  He 
insisted  that  they  would  destroy  any  balance  in  the  government,  and 
would  enable  the  President  and  the  Senate,  by  mutually  supporting 
and  aiding  each  other,  to  accomplish  what  usurpations  they  please 
upon  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people.  He  objected  to  the  ju 
diciary  of  the  United  States  being  so  constructed  and  extended  as  to 
absorb  and  destroy  the  judiciaries  of  the  several  States,  thereby  ren 
dering  the  administration  of  laws  tedious,  intricate,  expensive,  and 
unattainable  by  a  great  part  of  the  community.  He  objected  to  the 


GEORGE  MASON.  39 

Executive  because  the  President  of  the  United  States  has  no  consti 
tutional  counsel  (a  thing  unknown  in  any  safe  and  regular  govern 
ment)  ;  he  will  therefore  be  unsupported  by  proper  information  and 
advice  ;  and  will  generally  be  directed  by  minions  and  favorites — or 
he  will  become  a  tool  to  the  Senate — or  a  council  of  state  will  grow 
out  of  the  principal  officers  of  the  great  departments — the  worst  and 
most  dangerous  of  all  ingredients  for  such  a  council  in  a  free  coun 
try  ;  for  they  may  be  induced  to  join  in  any  dangerous  and  oppres 
sive  measures  to  shelter  themselves,  and  prevent  an  inquiry  into  their 
own  misconduct  in  office. 

In  a  word,  said  Col.  Mason,  the  Confederation  is  converted  to  one 
general  consolidated  government,  which,  from  my  best  judgment  of 
it,  is  one  of  the  worst  curses  that  can  possibly  befall  a  nation. 

Such  was  G-eorge  Mason — the  champion  of  the  States,  and  the 
author  of  the  doctrine  of  State  Rights.  Many  of  the  prophecies  of 
this  profound  statesman  are  recorded  in  the  fulfilments  of  history — 
many  of  the  ill  forebodings  of  the  inspired  orator  are  daily  shaping 
themselves  into  sad  realities.  To  the  indomitable  courage,  Roman 
energy,  and  inspiring  eloquence  of  Mason  and  of  Henry,  we  are  as 
much  indebted  for  our  independence,  as  to  the  sword  of  the  warrior. 
To  their  wisdom  and  sagacity  we  owe  the  preservation  and  the  future 
safety  of  the  ship  of  state,  which,  without  their  forewarning,  would 
have  long  since  been  dashed  to  pieces  against  the  rocks  and  the 
quicksands  that  lay  concealed  in  its  pathway.  While  the  eyes  of 
many  good  and  wise  men  were  dazzled  with  the  strength  and  bril 
liancy  of  the  young  eagle,  now  pluming  himself  for  a  bold  and  ardu 
ous  flight,  they  with  keener  vision  saw  the  poison  under  his  iwng, 
and  sought  to  extract  it,  lest,  in  his  high  career,  he  might  shed  pes 
tilence  and  death  on  the  country  which  it  was  his  destiny  to  over 
shadow  and  protect. 


4:0  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

CHAPTEE    IX. 

EAELY   POLITICAL  ASSOCIATES. 

IN  the  foregoing  chapters  we  may  have  gone  more  into  detail, 
and  dwelt  more  on  collateral  subjects  than  might  appear  consistent 
with  a  work  of  this  kind.  But  it  was  necessary  to  give  the  reader  a 
clue  to  the  political  opinions  of  John  Randolph.  No  one  can  fail  to 
ponder  over  those  chapters,  and  study  the  character  of  those  men 
we  have  briefly  attempted  to  portray,  and  do  justice  to  the  subject 
of  this  memoir.  He  was  bred  up  in  the  school  of  Mason  and  of 
Henry.  His  father-in-law,  his  uncles,  his  brother,  and  all  with  whom 
he  associated,  imbibed  the  sentiments  of  those  great  statesmen, 
shared  their  devotion  to  the  principles  and  the  independence  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  Virginia,  and  participated  in  all  their  objections 
to  the  new  government.  Randolph,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a  constant 
attendant  on  the  debates  of  the  first  Congress,  which  had  devolved 
on  it  the  delicate  task  of  organizing  the  government,  and  setting  its 
wheels  in  motion.  A  majority  of  the  members  in  that  body,  from 
Virginia,  belonged  to  the  political  school  of  Mason  and  of  Henry. 
They  owed  their  appointment  to  the  influence  of  those  men  and  the 
alarms  excited  in  the  public  mind  by  their  predictions.  Many  of 
them  were  the  blood  relations  of  John  Randolph,  and  all  of  them 
his  intimate  friends.  With  these  he  associated.  For  the  sage  de 
lights  to  take  ingenuous  youth  by  the  hand,  and  address  to  his  atten 
tive  ear  words  of  truth  and  of  wisdom.  When  Richard  Henry  Lee, 
and  Grrayson,  and  Bland,  and  Tucker,  and  Page,  were  seated  around 
the  domestic  fireside,  holding  free  and  familiar  discourse  on  those 
great  questions  involved  in  founding  a  Republic,  we  may  well  con 
ceive  that  their  young  friend  and  kinsman  was  a  welcome  and  an  at 
tentive  listener  to  those  high  themes,  teaching 

"  What  makes  a  nation  happy  and  keeps  it  so, 
What  ruins  kingdoms  and  lays  cities  flat." 

We  may  well  conceive  how  his  bosom  dilated,  and  his  eye  kin 
dled  with  unwonted  fire,  as  they  narrated  the  great  battle  of  giants 
in  the  Convention,  told  of  the  many-sided  wisdom  of  George  Mason, 


EARLY  POLITICAL  ASSOCIATES.  41 

who  in  majestic  unaffected  style  better  taught  the  solid  rules  of  civil 
government  than  all  the  oratory  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  spoke  of 
the  deep-toned  awful  eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry,  which  rivalled  the 
thunders  that  rolled  over  their  heads,  as  he  uttered  his  words  of 
warning.  From  these  familiar  communings  he  daily  repaired  to 
Federal  Hall,  there  to  hang  upon  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  and  with  keen  vision  see  enacted  before  him  the  fulfilment 
of  the  statesman's  prophecy. 

The  great  subject  of  taxation  was  the  first  to  attract  his  atten. 
tion.  No  sooner  had  Congress  been  organized,  than  they  com. 
menced,  as  he  conceived,  the  work  of  oppression.  The  unlimited 
powers  conferred  on  Congress  to  tax  the  people,  excited  the  alarm 
of  those  who  looked  to  the  independence  of  the  States  as  the  only 
protection  to  liberty.  They  sought  a  modification  of  this  power  in 
the  Convention.  Failing  there,  they  asked  an  amendment  of  the 
Constitution.  But  all  their  efforts  to  place  restrictions  on  this  all- 
absorbing  power  of  government,  were  unavailing.  The  first  exercise 
of  it  justified,  in  their  opinion,  the  worst  suspicions  which  had  been 
excited  as  to  its  dangerous  and  oppressive  tendency.  They  declared 
that  no  duty  or  tax  had  been  imposed,  that  did  not  operate  as  a 
bounty  to  one  section  and  a  burden  on  another.  While  the  import 
and  tonnage  bills  were  under  discussion,  Mr.  Smith  of  South  Carolina 
said,  "  that  the  States  which  adopted  the  Constitution,  expected  its 
administration  would  be  conducted  with  a  favorable  hand.  The 
manufacturing  States  wished  the  encouragement  of  manufactures  ; 
the  maritime  States  the  encouragement  of  ship  building,  and  the  ag 
ricultural  States  the  encouragement  of  agriculture.  Let  us  view 
the  progress  we  have  made  in  accommodating  their  interests  : — We 
have  laid  heavy  duties  upon  foreign  goods  to  encourage  domestic 
manufactures  ;  we  are  now  about  to  lay  a  tonnage  duty,  for  the  en 
couragement  of  commerce  ;  but  has  any  one  step  been  taken  to  en 
courage  the  agricultural  States  ?  So  far  from  it,  that  all  that  has  been 
done  operates  against  their  interest :  every  duty  we  have  laid  will 
be  heavily  felt  by  South  Carolina,  while  nothing  has  been  done  to 
assist  or  even  encourage  her  or  her  agriculture."  Mr.  Tucker  said  : 
"  I  am  opposed  to  high  duties,  because  they  tend  to  the  oppression 
of  certain  citizens  and  States,  in  order  to  promote  the  benefit  of 
other  States  and  other  classes  of  citizens."  Mr.  Bland  laid  it  down 


42  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

as  an  incontrovertible  truth,  "  that  the  agricultural  interest  is  the 
permanent  interest  of  this  country,  and  therefore  ought  not  to  be 
sacrificed  to  any  other."  Mr.  Jackson  of  Georgia,  who  had  accus 
tomed  himself,  as  he  said,  to  a  blunt  integrity  of  speech,  that  attest 
ed  his  sincerity,  exclaimed :  "  They  call  to  my  mind  a  passage  of 
Scripture,  where  a  king,  by  the  advice  of  inexperienced  counsellors, 
declared  to  his  people, '  my  father  did  laden  you  with  a  heavy  yoke, 
but  I  will  add  to  your  burdens.'  "  Follow  those  men  through  all 
their  legislative  career  and  it  will  be  found,  though  history  has  given 
them  little  credit  for  it,  that  they  steadily  pursued  one  object  as 
their  polar  star — resistance  to  the  encroachments  of  power,  and  pro 
tection  to  the  rights  of  the  people. 

The  awful  squinting  towards  monarchy  which  Henry  saw  in  the 
Executive,  made  them  particularly  jealous  of  that  department  of 
government,  and  caused  tiiem  to  oppose  every  measure  that  might 
tend  to  increase  its  power  or  patronage.  On  the  much  mooted  ques 
tion,  for  example,  of  removal  from  office,  they  insisted  that  the  Senate 
should  be  associated  with  the  President.  Mr.  Bland  was  the  first 
to  give  expression  to  opinions  which  have  since  been  so  often  re 
peated,  and  the  policy  of  which  is  still  a  question.  He  thought  the 
power  given  by  the  Constitution  to  the  Senate,  respecting  the  ap 
pointments  to  office,  would  be  rendered  almost  nugatory  if  the  Pre 
sident  had  the  power  of  removal.  He  thought  it  consistent  with  the 
nature  of  things,  that  the  power  which  appointed,  should  remove ;  and 
would  not  object  to  a  declaration  in  the  resolution,  that  the  Presi 
dent  shall  remove  from  office  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate. 

The  bill  to  establish  the  Treasury  Department  contained  a 
clause  making  it  the  duty  of  the  Secretary,  "to  digest  and  report 
plans  for  the  improvement  and  management  of  the  revenue  and  for 
the  support  of  public  credit." 

Mr.  Page  moved  to  strike  out  these  words,  observing,  that  to 
permit  the  Secretary  to  go  farther  than  to  prepare  estimates,  would 
be  a  dangerous  innovation  on  the  constitutional  privilege  of  that 
house.  It  would  create  an  undue  influence  within  those  walls,  be 
cause  members  might  be  led  by  the  deference  commonly  paid  to 
men  of  abilities,  who  gave  an  opinion  in  a  case  they  have  thoroughly 
considered,  to  support  the  plan  of  the  minister  even  against  their 


EARLY  POLITICAL  ASSOCIATES.  43 

own  judgment.  Nor  would  the  mischief  stop  there.  A  precedent 
would  be  established,  which  might  be  extended  until  ministers  of 
the  government  should  be  admitted  on  that  floor,  to  explain  and 
support  the  plans  they  had  digested  and  reported,  thereby  laying  a 
foundation  for  an  aristocracy  or  a  detestable  monarchy. 

Mr.  Tucker  seconded  the  motion  of  Mr.  Page.  He  hoped  the 
house  was  not  already  weary  of  executing  and  sustaining  the  powers 
vested  in  them  by  the  Constitution ;  and  yet  the  adoption  of  this 
clause  would  argue  that  they  thought  themselves  less  adequate  than 
an  individual  to  determine  what  burdens  their  constituents  were 
able  to  bear.  This  was  not  answering  the  high  expectations  that 
had  been  formed  of  their  exertions  for  the  general  good,  or  of  their 
vigilance  in  guarding  their  own  and  the  people's  rights. 

But  nothing  could  equal  the  ferment  and  disquietude  occasioned 
throughout  the  country  by  the  proposition  which  came  from  the 
Senate,  to  confer  titles  on  the  President  and  other  officers  of  govern 
ment.  The  committee  of  the  Senate  reported,  that  it  was  proper 
to  style  the  President  his  highness  the  President  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  and  Protector  of  their  liberties.  In  some  of  the  news 
papers  the  President  was  called  his  highness  the  President  General. 
Some  even  went  farther,  and  declared  that  as  he  represented  the 
majesty  of  the  people,  he  might  even  be  styled  "  His  Majesty]' 
without  reasonable  offence  to  republican  ears.  The  Senate  was  de 
nominated  most  honorable,  and  the  same  epithet  was  applied  to  the 
members  of  that  body.  For  instance,  it  was  published  that  the  most 
honorable  Rufus  King  and  the  most  honorable  Philip  Schuyler  were 
appointed  senators.  And  when  Mrs.  Washington  came  to  New- 
York,  she  was  accompanied  by  the  "  lady  of  the  most  honorable 
Robert  Morris."  The  representatives,  and  even  the  secretaries  of 
the  executive  departments  were  favored  with  no  higher  title  than 
honorable.  This  habit  of  conferring  titles  and  drawing  distinctions 
between  the  different  departments  of  government,  and  extending 
those  titles  and  distinctions  to  persons  no  way  connected  with  the 
government,  had  become  very  common,  and  would  unquestionably 
have  grown  into  something  worse,  but  for  the  debates  called  forth  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  the  indignation  shown  by  the 
leading  members  of  that  body  against  such  proceedings.  "  What, 
sir,"  said  Mr.  Tucker,  "  is  the  intention  of  this  business  1  Will  it  not 


44  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

alarm  our  fellow-citizens  ?  will  it  not  give  them  just  cause  of  alarm? 
Will  they  not  say,  that  they  have  been  deceived  by  the  Convention 
that  framed  the  Constitution  ?  That  it  has  been  contrived  with  a 
view  to  lead  them  on  by  degrees  to  that  kind  of  government  which 
they  have  thrown  off  with  abhorrence  ?  Shall  we  not  justify  the 
fears  of  those  who  are  opposed  to  the  Constitution,  because  they  con 
sidered  it  as  insidious  and  hostile  to  the  liberties  of  the  people  ?" 

"  Titles,  sir,"  said  Mr.  Page,  "  may  do  harm  and  have  done  harm. 
If  we  contend  now  for  a  right  to  confer  titles,  I  apprehend  the  time 
will  come  when  we  shall  form  a  reservoir  for  honor,  and  make  our 
President  the  fountain  of  it.  In  such  case  may  not  titles  do  an 
injury  to  the  Union  1  They  have  been  the  occasion  of  an  eternal 
faction  in  the  kingdom  we  were  formerly  connected  with,  and  may 
beget  like  inquietude  in  America ;  for  I  contend,  if  you  give  the 
title,  you  must  follow  it  with  the  robe  and  the  diadem,  and  then  the 
principles  of  your  government  are  subverted." 

Such  were  the  men  with  whom  John  Randolph  daily  associated, 
such  were  the  high-toned  principles  of  liberty  he  was  daily  accus 
tomed  to  hear.  It  was  not  from  the  reading  of  books  in  his  closet, 
nor  from  second-hand  that  he  acquired  his  knowledge  of  politics,  and 
that  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  leading  characters  of  the  country 
for  which  he  was  so  remarkable,  but  from  familiar  intercourse  with 
the  statesmen  and  sages  who  laid  the  foundations  of  the  government, 
and  commenced  the  first  superstructure  of  laws  and  precedents  to 
serve  as  guides  and  examples  to  the  statesmen  who  should  come  after 
them. 

It  was  the  fortune  of  this  young  man  to  behold  the  Government 
in  its  feeble  beginnings,  like  the  simple  shepherds  on  the  snowy  Ve- 
solo,  gazing  in  the  overshadowed  fountain  of  the  Po  with  his  scanty 

waters. 

Mirando  al  fonte  ombroso 
II  Po  con  pochi  umori. 

It  was  his  destiny  also  never  to  lose  sight  of  it,  but  to  follow  it 
through  near  half  a  century  of  various  fortune,  now  enfeebled  by 
war  and  faction,  now  strengthened  and  enlarged  by  new  States  and 
new  powers.  How  like  the  Po  !  he  receives  as  a  sovereign  the  Adda 
and  the  Tessino  in  his  course,  how  ample  he  hastens  on  to  the  sea, 
how  he  foams,  how  mighty  his  voice,  and  to  him  the  crown  is  assigned. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  45 

Che  '1  Adda,  che  '1  Tessino 
Soverchia  in  suo  cammimo, 
Che  ampio  al  Mar'  s'affretta 
Che  si  spuma,  e  si  suona, 
Che  gli  si  da  corona ! 


CHAPTEE   X. 

THOMAS    JEFFEKSON. 

IN  the  winter  of  the  year  1790-1,  Philadelphia  had  again  become, 
as  in  times  of  the  old  Continental  Congress,  the  great  centre  of 
attraction.  By  a  recent  Act  it  had  been  made  the  seat  of  the  Federal 
Government  for  ten  years,  The  national  legislature,  adjourning  the 
12th  of  August  in  New- York,  were  to  assemble  the  first  Monday  in 
December  in  the  new  Capitol.  The  papers  and  officers  of  all  the 
Executive  Departments  were  removed  thither  early  in  October,  under 
the  conduct  of  Col.  Hamilton,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  The 
President  returning  from  Mount  Vernon  about  the  1st  of  December, 
took  up  his  lodgings  in  a  house  belonging  to  Robert  Morris,  which 
had  been  hired  and  fitted  up  for  the  purpose.  And  Tuesday,  the  7th 
of  December,  the  3d  session  of  the  1st  Congress  was  organized  in 
the  new  Court  House  of  the  city,  which  had  been  tendered  to  the 
government  by  the  town  authorities.  We  find  also  our  young  friend, 
in  this  general  removal,  transferred  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  He 
took  up  his  residence  at  No.  154  Arch-street,  where  he  continued 
with  short  intervals,  till  the  spring  of  1 794,  when  he  returned  to  Vir 
ginia. 

He  was  attached  to  the  family  of  Edmund  Randolph,  the  Attor 
ney  General  of  the  United  States — the  same  person  his  mother 
pointed  him  to  as  the  model  of  an  orator,  worthy  of  his  imitation. 
Edmund  Randolph  was  a  kinsman  in  the  collateral  line.  He  was 
the  son  of  John  Randolph,  the  King's  Attorney  General  about  the 
time  of  the  Revolution. 

"  Mr.  Randolph,"  says  Wirt,  "  was,  in  person  and  manners,  among 
the  most  elegant  gentlemen  in  the  colony,  and  in  his  profession  one 


46  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

of  the  most  splendid  ornaments  of  the  bar."  He  was  the  son  of  Sir 
John  (Knight),  who  was  the  son  of  William  of  Turkey  Island,  the 
great  American  progenitor  of  the  family.  Edmund  Randolph  in 
herited  many  of  the  accomplishments  of  his  father.  But  he  was 
more  showy  than  solid.  He  was  also  of  a  vacillating  character; 
voting  against  the  Constitution,  then  violent  in  its  favor ;  striving  at 
first  to  steer  above  the  influence  of  party,  he  was  at  length  ingulfed 
and  swept  away  by  its  current.  "  Friend  Edmund,"  said  John 
Randolph  years  afterwards,  "  was  like  the  aspen,  like  the  chameleon, 
ever  trembling,  ever  changing."  We  may,  therefore,  suppose  that 
his  influence  over  the  mind  and  character  of  his  pupil  was  not  so 
great  as  that  of  another  kinsman  who  was  also  a  member  of  General 
Washington's  Cabinet.  We  allude  to  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  first 
cousin  of  John  Randolph's  father,  and  the  intimate  friend  of  his 
youth. 

Mr.  Jefferson  had  been  abroad  some  yoars  as  Minister  to  France. 
Returning  on  a  visit  to  America,  he  was  invited  by  General  Washing 
ton  to  take  charge  of  the  State  Department.  The  invitation  was 
accepted,  and  he  was  no  sooner  installed  in  office  in  the  spring  of 
1790,  than  he  became  the  head  and  leader  of  the  Republican  State- 
Rights  Party,  then  struggling  into  existence.  Is  was  not  the  exalted 
station  alone,  but  other  circumstances  that  forced  him  into  this  unen 
viable  and  critical  position.  The  author  of  the  doctrine  of  State 
Rights  and  its  eloquent  defender,  George  Mason,  and  Patrick  Henry, 
were  both  in  retirement.  The  latter  had  been  offered  a  seat  in  the 
Senate  at  its  organization,  but  declined.  It  was  tendered  to  him  the 
second  time,  on  the  death  of  Col.  Gray  son ;  he  again  declined  on  the 
ground  that  he  was  too  old  to  fall  into  those  awkward  imitations 
which  have  now  become  fashionable,  spoken  in  allusion  to  the  levees 
of  Mrs.  Washington,  and  the  etiquette  observed  in  presentations  at 
the  Executive  Mansion. 

Richard  Henry  Lee  was  still  in  the  Senate.  He  was  the  gentleman, 
the  scholar,  and  the  orator,  but  his  thoughts  ran  too  much  in  the  smooth 
channel  of  established  forms,  his  oratory  too  elaborate  and  polished,  his 
disposition  too  indolent  and  unambitious  to  make  him  the  fit  leader 
of  a  party  just  coming  into  existence  in  a  new  era,  with  new  thoughts, 
new  principles,  and  an  untried  experiment  before  them.  Thomas 
Jefferson  was  the  man.  The  qualities  of  his  mind,  his  education  and 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  47 

previous  course  of  life,  fitted  him  to  be  the  bold  and  intrepid  pioneer 
of  that  untried  course  the  people  had  entered  upon. 

His  mind,  not  of  the  Platonic  cast,  was  eminently  perceptive. 
The  abstract  had  no  charms  for  him — the  spiritual  no  existence. 
Devoted  to  the  natural  sciences,  his  metaphysics  savored  of  material 
ism.  Locke's  Philosophy  of  the  Senses  bounded  his  conceptions  of  the 
human  understanding.  And  the  French  Disciples,  who  pursued  the 
doctrines  of  their  master,  to  the  legitimate  consequence  of  sensualism 
and  infidelity,  were  his  chief  authorities  on  all  questions  of  morality 
and  religion. 

He  was  a  bold,  free  thinker,  bound  to  no  school.  "  I  never  sub 
mitted  the  whole  system  of  my  opinions,"  says  he,  "  to  the  creed  of 
any  party  of  men  whatever,  in  religion,  in  philosophy,  in  politics,  or 
in  any  thing  else." 

He  was  born  in  a  country  in  the  vigor  of  its  youth,  untrammelled 
by  habit,  and  new  in  all  its  social  relations.  He  was  a  child  of  the 
Revolution.  His  ardent  temper  was  kindled  by  its  stormy  passions, 
and  his  bold  intellect  grasped  the  master  idea  of  that  great  popular 
movement,  which  was  unfettered  freedom  to  mind,  body,  and  estate. 
By  him  the  law  of  primogeniture  was  destroyed  in  Virginia,  religious 
freedom  established,  and  universal  liberty  and  equality  proclaimed  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

His  ruling  desire  to  strike  the  padlock  from  the  mind,  and  the 
fetter  from  the  limbs  of  mankind,  was  rather  strengthened  than 
abated  by  his  long  residence  abroad  under  a  despotic  government. 
Being  a  man  of  letters  and  of  taste,  he  was  in  intimate  association 
with  the  great  writers  and  master  spirits  that  set  the  ball  of  the  French 
Revolution  in  motion.  In  boldness  and  freedom  of  discussion  they 
surpassed  even  himself.  Speaking  of  them  he  says,  "  the  writers  of 
this  country  (France)  now  taking  the  field  freely,  and  unrestrained, 
or  rather  revolted  by  prejudice,  will  rouse  us  all  from  the  errors  in 
which  we  have  been  hitherto  rocked." 

A  witness  of  the  assembling  of  the  States  General,  May,  1789, 
he  rejoiced  in  the  downfall  of  the  worn-out  French  monarchy,  of 
which  that  was  the  signal ;  and  was  the  friend  and  adviser  of  those 
who  sought  to  rebuild  on  its  ruins  a  freer  government,  with  broader 
and  deeper  foundations.  He  heard  the  rights  of  man,  the  origin  of 
government,  the  abuses  and  limitations  of  power,  more  freely  dis- 


48  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

cussed  in  the  cafes  and  saloons  of  Paris  than  in  the  court-yards  of 
Virginia. 

When  the  usages  and  precedents  of  past  times,  and  of  other 
governments,  were  scornfully  rejected,  he  saw  our  own  proceedings 
pointed  to  as  a  model,  and  regarded  with  an  authority  like  that  of 
the  Bible,  open  to  explanation^  but  not  to  question. 

Coming  from  those  scenes  of  enthusiasm  in  which  he  so  warmly 
participated ;  coming  from  a  land  where  old  prejudices  and  long 
established  abuses  were  vanishing  away ;  where  the  titles  of  feudal 
ism  and  the  privileges  of  despotism  had  been  swept  away  in  a 
night,  and  a  great  nation  was  rejoicing  in  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  of 
freedom ;  he  expressed  himself  astonished  to  find  his  own  govern 
ment,  which  was  regarded  by  others  as  a  model  and  an  example,  pos 
sessed  with  a  spirit  that  seemed  to  him  so  anti-republican. 

This  false  direction  of  the  government  he  mainly  attributed  to 
the  financial  schemes  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury. 

It  is  well  known  that  Hamilton  advised  a  Constitution  far  differ 
ent  from  the  one  adopted.  His  was  a  plan  of  consolidation,  with  a 
strong  infusion  of  the  aristocratic  principle.  Having  experienced 
the  imbecility  of  the  Confederation,  he  did  not  believe  the  new  gov 
ernment  practicable.  Without  a  successful  example  in  history,  he 
did  not  believe  in  the  capacity  of  the  people  for  self-government. 
Judging  of  mankind  by  the  oppressed  and  degraded  specimens  of 
the  army  and  of  the  Old  Country,  he  did  not  duly  appreciate  the 
intelligent  and  manly  character  of  his  own  countrymen,  nor  did  he 
comprehend  the  nature  of  that  government  of  specified  powers  and 
divided  sovereignty  which  was  the  embodiment  of  their  spirit  and 
principles.  Placed  at  the  head  of  the  Financial  Department  of  a 
new  government,  he  was  surrounded  with  many  difficulties.  The 
war  had  left  the  Confederation  and  the  States  burdened  with  debt ; 
and,  exhausted  of  resources,  it  became  his  duty  to  devise  means  to 
resuscitate  the  one,  and  to  pay  off  the  other.  With  no  experience 
in  his  own  country,  it  was  natural  he  should  look  to  the  successful 
example  of  others.  He  is  considered  a  wise  statesman,  who  is 
guided  by  established  precedents,  does  not  strike  into  unknown 
paths,  but  prudently  follows  the  course  that  has  been  pursued  before 
him.  Judging  him  by  this  rule,  it  would  be  hard  to  say  how  far  he 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  49 

ought  to  have  acted  otherwise  than  he  did,  without  hazarding  the 
censure  of  rashness.  K  The  chief  outlines  of  these  plans,"  says  he, 
in  his  report  on  public  credit,  "  are  not  original,  but  it  is  no  ill 
recommendation  that  they  have  been  tried  with  success."  He 
recommended  that  the  debts  which  had  been  contracted  by  the 
several  States  in  the  "War  of  Independence,  and  for  which  they 
were  bound,  as  independent  sovereignties,  should  be  assumed  by  the 
new  government, — that  these  assumed  debts,  and  those  contracted 
by  the  Confederation,  amounting  in  all  to  some  eighty  millions  of 
dollars,  though  greatly  depreciated,  and  passed  from  the  hands  of 
the  original  owner,  should  be  funded  at  their  par  value  ;  the  in 
terest  to  be  paid  regularly  by  an  excise  and  an  impost  duty,  but  the 
capital  to  be  viewed  in  the  light  of  an  annuity,  at  the  rate  of  six  per 
centum  per  annum,  redeemable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  government. 
He  also  advised  the  incorporation  of  a  National  Bank,  as  "  an  insti 
tution  of  primary  importance  to  the  prosperous  administration  of  the 
finances,  and  of  the  greatest  utility  in  the  operations  connected  with 
the  support  of  the  public  credit."  In  his  Reports,  he  labors,  at 
great  length,  to  prove  the  utility  of  a  well-funded  National  Debt. 
"  It  is  a  well  known  fact,"  says  he,  "  that  in  countries  where  the 
national  debt  is  properly  funded,  it  answers  most  of  the  purposes  of 
money.  Transfers  of  stock,  or  public  debt,  are  there  equivalent  to 
payments  in  specie  ;  or,  in  other  words,  stock  in  the  principal  trans 
actions  of  business  passes  current  as  specie.  Trade  is  extended  by 
it.  because  there  is  a  larger  capital  to  carry  it  on.  Agriculture  and 
manufactures  are  promoted  by  it  for  a  like  reason.  The  interest  of 
money  will  be  lowered  by  it,  for  this  is  always  in  ratio  to  the  quan 
tity  of  money,  and  to  the  quickness  of  circulation.  From  the  combi 
nation  of  these  effects,  additional  aids  will  be  furnished  to  labor,  to 
industry,  and  to  arts  of  every  kind.  But  these  good  effects  of  a 
public  debt  are  only  to  be  looked  for  when,  by  being  well  funded,  it 
has  acquired  an  adequate  and  stable  value."  These  arguments, 
viewed  in  connection  with  the  obvious  tendency  of  his  policy,  led 
the  enemies  of  Hamilton  to  declare  that  he  regarded  a  national 
debt  as  a  national  blessing.  Though  this  inference  might  be  drawn 
from  his  doctrine  and  policy,  he  yet,  in  express  terms,  declared  him 
self  against  it.  "  Persuaded  as  the  Secretary  is,"  says  he,  "  that  the 
proper  funding  of  the  present  debt  will  render  it  a  national  blessing, 
VOL.  i.  •  3 


50  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

yet  he  is  so  far  from  acceding  to  the  proposition,  in  the  latitude  in 
which  it  is  sometimes  laid  down,  that  '  public  debts  are  public 
benefits' — a  position  inviting  to  prodigality,  and  liable  to  dangerous 
abuse — that  he  ardently  wishes  to  see  it  incorporated,  as  a  funda 
mental  maxim,  in  the  system  of  public  credit  of  the  United  States, 
that  the  creation  of  debt  should  always  be  accompanied  with  the 
means  of  extinguishment."  Had  those  schemes  of  Hamilton  been 
laid  before  a  British  Parliament,  they  would  have  been  viewed  as 
clearly  and  ably  expressed,  and  adopted  as  practicable  and  expe 
dient  ;  but  with  us,  far  other  and  higher  considerations  than  *hose 
of  expediency  or  practicability  had  to  be  weighed  before  the  adop 
tion  of  any  measure.  The  British  Parliament  was  omnipotent ;  the 
American  Congress  limited  to  a  few,  well  defined,  and  specified 
powers.  Parliament  was  only  guided  by  precedent  and  usage ; 
Congress  were  controlled  by  the  words  of  a  written  Constitution. 
There  was  with  us,  therefore,  a  primary  and  fundamental  inquiry  to 
be  made  on  all  subjects  of  legislation,  unknown  to  the  British 
statesman.  Whenever  a  measure  is  proposed,  the  first  question 
should  be,  Is  it  constitutional?  Is  it  authorized  by  the  specified 
powers  laid  down  in  the  Charter1?  or  does  it  encroach  on  the 
reserved  rights  of  the  States  ?  How  does  it  affect  the  balance  of 
power  between  the  Executive,  Legislative,  and  Judiciary  Depart 
ments,  or  how  does  it  operate  on  the  morals  and  integrity  of  the 
people,  upon  whose  purity  depends  the  existence  of  a  free  govern 
ment?  Unless  these  preliminary  questions  are  always  honestly  and 
fairly  settled,  it  is  obvious  that  a  republican  and  a  written  Constitu 
tion  cannot  long  be  of  any  avail.  But  these  considerations  did  not 
occur  to  the  mind  of  Hamilton,  in  projecting  his  schemes  of  finance  ; 
they  are  never  started,  nor  is  the  slightest  allusion  made  to  them  in 
his  Reports.  He  views  every  subject  in  its  financial  aspect,  without 
regard  to  its  political  bearing  on  the  new,  peculiar,  and  delicately 
balanced  institutions  of  his  country.  This  was  his  great  and  fatal 
error.  Thomas  Jefferson  perceived  it,  and  battled  against  all  his 
schemes  as  unconstitutional,  destructive  to  the  independence  of  the 
States,  and  corrupting  to  the  rulers  and  to  the  people. 

Posterity,  therefore,  in  pronouncing  judgment  on  these  great 
rivals,  would  be  constrained  to  say  that  Hamilton  was  the  able 
financier,  but  Jefferson  the  profound  statesman.  While  the  one. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  51 

with  averted  countenance,  looked  back  upon  the  lights  the  world 
had  already  passed ;  the  other,  with  prophetic  vision,  caught  the 
rays  of  a  new  constellation,  just  dawning  upon  it.  Gathering  up  in 
his  capacious  mind  the  tendency  and  influences  of  those  feelings 
and  opinions,  recently  developed  in  American  history  and  institu 
tions,  Jefferson  conceived  a  theory  of  government  that  embodied  the 
growing  sentiments  of  the  people,  and  fulfilled  their  idea  of  what  a 
free  Republic  should  be.  He  stands  in  relation  to  the  Constitution 
as  Aristotle  to  the  Iliad  ;  Homer  wrote  the  poem,  the  philosopher 
deduced  thence  the  rules  of  poetry.  Mason  and  other  sages  made 
the  Constitution,  the  statesman  abstracted  from  it  the  doctrines  of  a 
federative,  representative,  republican  government ;  and  demonstrated 
that  they  alone  are  adapted  to  a  wide-spread  and  diversified  country, 
and  suited  to  the  genius  of  a  free  and  enlightened  people.  Were 
the  question  asked,  What  has  America  done  for  the  amelioration  of 
mankind  ?  the  answer  would  not  be  found  in  her  discoveries  in 
science  or  improvements  in  art,  but  in  her  political  philosophy,  as 
conceived  by  Jefferson,  and  developed  by  his  disciples.  Though  he 
was  the  acknowledged  leader  of  what  may  be  called  the  great 
American  movement,  he  never  spoke  in  public,  and  never  wrote  an 
essay  for  the  newspapers.  His  great  skill  lay  in  infusing  his  senti 
ments  into  the  minds  of  others  by  conversation,  or  correspondence, 
and  making  them  the  instruments  of  their  propagation.  Gathering 
about  him  the  influential  men  of  the  new  party,  he  imparted  to  them 
more  comprehensive  views  of  their  own  doctrines,  and  made  them 
the  enthusiastic  defenders  of  those  principles,  the  importance  of 
which  they  had  but  dimly  perceived.  Over  no  one  did  he  exert  a 
greater  influence  than  the  young  and  ardent  subject  of  this  memoir. 
His  connection  with  the  family  of  Edmund  Randolph,  and  his  near 
relationship  to  Mr.  Jefferson  himself,  brought  him  frequently  within 
the  sphere  of  that  fascinating  conversation,  which  was  never  spared 
in  the  propagation  of  his  opinions.  But  John  Randolph,  although  a 
youth,  was  not  the  character  to  yield  a  blind  allegiance  to  any 
leader.  The  disciple  differed  widely  in  many  doctrines  from  the 
master.  The  grounds  of  that  difference  may  be  found  in  the  writ 
ings  of  another  great  statesman  that  begun  about  that  time  to  take 
hold  on  his  mind,  and  deeply  impress  his  character.  So  great  was 
their  influence  in  after  life,  that  the  writings  of  Edmund  Burke 


52  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

became  the  key  to  the  political  opinions  of  John  Randolph.     With 
him  Edmund  Burke  was  the  great  master  of  political  philosophy. 


CHAPTEE    XI. 

SMALL  BEGINNINGS — EDMUND  BUKKE — THOMAS  PAINE. 

SOON  after  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  the  4th  of  March,  1791, 
General  Washington  left  the  seat  of  government,  and  commenced 
his  tour  through  the  Southern  States.  The  secretaries  at  the  head 
of  the  different  departments,  were  left  as  a  kind  of  committee  to 
conduct  affairs  in  his  absence. 

About  this  time  the  public  mind  began  to  be  greatly  agitated 
not  only  by  the  wonderful  events  of  the  French  Revolution,  but  the 
various  speculations  on  those  extraordinary  occurrences  that  daily 
teemed  from  our  own  political  press.  The  two  leading  productions, 
that  were  held  up  on  both  sides  as  setting  forth  most  clearly  and 
fully  the  views  they  respectively  entertained,  proceeded  from  men 
who  were  well  and  favorably  known  in  America  as  the  friends  of 
liberty. 

Edmund  Burke  had  not  only  defended  the  colonies,  in  the  Brit 
ish  Parliament,  against  the  unjust  and  oppressive  taxation  of  the 
ministry,  but  had  nobly  vindicated  their  character  and  their  mo 
tives.  Throughout  America  his  name  was  venerated  and  beloved. 
Well  might  he  exclaim,  "  I  love  a  manly,  moral,  regulated  liberty  as 
well  as  any  man,  be  he  who  he  will ;  and  perhaps  I  have  given  as  good 
proofs  of  my  attachment  to  that  cause  in  the  whole  course  of  my 
public  conduct." 

Thomas  Paine  was  in  America  during  the  struggle  of  the  Colo 
nies  for  independence,  and  greatly  aided  the  cause  by  his  spirited 
and  patriotic  essays.  It  was  generally  conceded  that  in  the  darkest 
hour  of  the  Revolution,  when  our  armies  were  disbanded,  and  the 
hearts  of  the  people  despondent,  he  helped  to  rally  the  one,  and  to 
animate  the  other  by  his  bold  and  patriotic  appeals.  The  first  men 
of  the  nation  forgot  his  many  vices,  and  cherished  his  person  and 
his  reputation  in  grateful  remembrance  of  his  valuable  services. 


EDMUND  BURKE— THOMAS  PAINE.  53 

General  Washington  was  his  constant  correspondent  while  abroad, 
and  while  in  America  the  house  of  Jefferson  was  his  home. 

In  the  great  struggle  for  liberty  which  had  now  commenced  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  these  two  champions  of  the  cause  took 
opposite  sides.  Burke  expressed  a  hearty  wish  that  France  might 
be  animated  by  a  spirit  of  rational  liberty,  and  provide  a  permanent 
body  in  which  that  spirit  might  reside,  and  an  effectual  organ  by 
which  it  might  act ;  but,  he  said,  it  was  his  misfortune  to  entertain 
great  doubts  concerning  several  material  points  in  their  late  transac 
tions.  Paine,  on  the  other  hand,  had  no  doubts  ;  inflamed  by  the 
spirit  of  liberty,  suddenly  burst  forth  in  the  hearts  of  the  French 
people,  and  dazzled  by  its  brilliant  achievements,  he  threw  himself 
warmly  into  the  popular  cause  without  knowing  or  caring  for  the 
consequences. 

The  habits,  education,  social  position,  and  natural  temperament 
of  tne  two  men  led  to  this  wide  difference.  Burke  had  been  long 
trained  in  the  school  of  experience,  Paine  was  the  mere  speculative 
theorist.  The  one  judged  of  the  future  by  the  past,  the  other  pro 
jected  the  future  not  from  the  solid  ground  of  experience,  but  the 
hopeful  theories  of  his  own  sanguine  imagination.  Burke  was  the 
cautious  statesman,  Paine  the  enthusiastic  patriot. 

The  statesman  cannot  stand  forward  and  give  praise  or  blame  to 
any  thing  which  relates  to  human  actions,  and  human  concerns,  on  a 
simple  view  of  the  object,  as  it  stands  stripped  of  every  relation,  in 
all  the  nakedness  and  solitude  of  metaphysical  abstraction.  Circum 
stances  which  with  some  pass  for  nothing,  give  in  reality  to  every 
political  principle  its  distinguishing  color,  and  discriminating  effect. 
The  circumstances  are  what  render  every  civil  and  political  scheme 
beneficial  or  noxious  to  mankind.  Burke  was  guided  by  this  great 
political  maxim,  the  truth  of  which  he  had  been  taught  by  long 
experience.  "  I  must  be  tolerably  sure,"  said  he,  "  before  I  venture 
publicly  to  congratulate  men  upon  a  blessing,  that  they  have  really 
received  one.  Flattery  corrupts  both  the  receiver  and  the  giver ; 
and  adulation  is  not  of  more  service  to  the  people  than  to  kings.  I 
should  therefore  suspend  my  congratulations  on  the  new  liberty  of 
France,  until  I  was  informed  how  it  had  been  combined  with  govern 
ment,  with  public  force,  with  the  discipline  and  obedience  of  armies, 
with  the  collection  of  an  effective  and  well  distributed  revenue,  with 


54  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

morality  and  religion,  with  solidity  and  property,  with  peace  and 
order,  with  civil  and  social  manners.  The  effect  of  liberty  to  indi 
viduals  is,  that  they  may  do  what  they  please  ;  we  ought  to  see  what 
it  will  please  them  to  do,  before  we  risk  congratulations,  which 
may  soon  be  turned  into  complaints.  Prudence  would  dictate  this  in 
the  case  of  separate  insulated  private  men ;  but  liberty,  when  men 
act  in  bodies,  is  power.  Considerate  people,  before  they  declare  them 
selves,  will  observe  the  use  which  is  made  of  power ;  and  particularly 
of  so  trying  a  thing  as  new  power  in  nzw  persons,  of  whose  principles, 
tempers,  and  dispositions,  they  have  little  or  no  experience.  Better 
to  be  despised  for  too  anxious  apprehensions,  than  ruined  by  too  con 
fident  a  security." 

Paine,  on  the  other  hand,  with  all  the  inexperienced  statesmen  of 
France,  followed  a  transcendental  idea.  He  saw  a  great  and  power 
ful  nation  burst  the  oppressive  and  galling  fetters  of  feudal  ages,  and 
proclaim  themselves  a  free  people.  With  all  the  lovers  of  man 
kind  through  the  world,  he  lifted  up  his  hands  and  clapped  for  joy. 
He  beheld  the  event  and  rejoiced.  But  how  this  new  power  might 
be  used  by  the  new  men,  of  whose  principles,  tempers,  and  dispositions 
he  had  no  experience,  he  did  not  stop  to  inquire ;  he  did  not  consult 
the  maxims  of  prudence,  or  the  principles  of  reason,  but  obeyed  the 
impulses  of  a  warm,  enthusiastic  and  patriotic  heart.  Dictated  by 
such  a  spirit,  his  writings  might  serve  to  animate,  but  not  to  instruct, 
to  inspire  a  kindred  enthusiasm,  but  to  afford  no  nourishment  to  the 
hungering  mind.  They  have  perished  with  the  occasion  that  gave 
them  birth,  while  the  immortal  truths  scattered  as  gems  through 
the  writings  of  Edmund  Burke,  are  set  like  stars  in  the  firmament 
for  lights  and  guides  to  mankind. 

Burke  wrote  his  reflections  on  the  Revolution  in  France  in  the 
month  of  May,  1790;  and  some  short  time  thereafter  gave  them  to 
the  public.  Paine's  answer,  entitled  the  Rights  of  Man,  soon  fol 
lowed.  The  first  and  only  copy  of  this  latter  production  made  its 
appearance  in  Philadelphia  about  the  first  of  May,  1791  ;  it  was  in 
the  hands  of  Beckley.  He  lent  the  pamphlet  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  with 
a  request,  that  when  he  should  have  read  it,  he  would  send  it  to 
Smith  the  printer,  who  wished  it  for  re-publication.  As  he  was  a 
stranger  to  Smith,  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  sending  the  pamphlet,  wrote  him 
a  note,  stating  why  he,  a  stranger,  had  sent  it,  namely,  that  Mr. 


THOMAS  PAINE— EDMUND  BURKE.  55 

Beckley  had  desired  it ;  and,  to  take  off  a  little  of  the  dryness  of  a 
note,  he  added,  that  he  was  glad  to  find  it  was  to  be  reprinted,  that 
something  would  at  length  be  publicly  said  against  the  political  here 
sies  which  had  lately  sprung  up  amongst  us,  and  that  he  did  not  doubt 
our  citizens  would  rally  again  around  the  standard  of  Common  Sense. 
In  these  allusions,  Mr.  Jefferson  had  reference  to  the  Discourses  on 
Davila,  which  had  filled  Fenno's  paper  for  a  twelvemonth  without 
contradiction.  Mr.  Adams,  the  Vice-President,  was  the  reputed 
author  of  those  Discourses.  When  the  reprint  of  Paine's  pamphlet 
appeared,  it  had  prefixed  to  it  the  note  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  which  the 
printer  had  appended  without  giving  him  the  slightest  intimation  of 
such  an  intention.  In  this  unexpected  way  was  the  leader  of  the 
new  and  rising  Democratic  Party  identified  with  the  political  doc 
trines  of  Paine,  the  principles  of  the  French  Revolution,  and  made 
publicly  to  avow  his  hostility  to  the  political  heresies  which  had  lately 
sprung  up  in  our  own  country.  In  addition  to  this,  Paine's  pam 
phlet,  though  without  authority,  had  been  dedicated  to  General 
Washington.  The  pamphlet,  accompanied  with  these  circumstances, 
produced  a  considerable  excitement  in  the  political  circles  of  Phila 
delphia.  Major  Beckwith,  an  unofficial  British  agent,  made  it  a 
subject  of  formal  complaint  to  the  private  secretary  of  the  President. 
He  expressed  surprise  that  the  pamphlet  should  be  dedicated  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  averred  that  it  had  received  the 
unequivocal  official  sanction  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  not  as  Mr. 
Jefferson,  but  as  the  Secretary  of  State. 

On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Adams  was  not  slow  in  declaring  his 
opposition  to  the  sentiments  expressed  in  Paine's  pamphlet.  In  the 
most  pointed  manner,  he  expressed  his  detestation  of  the  book  and 
its  tendency.  "  I  was  at  the  Vice-President's  house,"  says  the  pri 
vate  secretary,  writing  to  General  Washington,  "  and  while  there, 
the  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Rush  came  in.  The  conversation  turned  on  this 
book,  and  Dr.  Rush  asked  the  Vice-President  what  he  thought  of  it. 
After  a  little  hesitation,  he  laid  his  hand  upon  his  breast,  and  said 
in  a  very  solemn  manner,  '  I  detest  that  book  and  its  tendency,  from 
the  bottom  of  my  heart.'  " 

Mr.  Jefferson,  in  writing  to  the  President  about  the  same  time, 
says :  "  Paine's  answer  to  Burke's  pamphlet  begins  to  produce  some 
squibs  in  our  public  papers.  In  Fenno's  paper  they  are  Burkites ; 


56  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

in  the  others,  they  are  Painites.  One  of  Fenno's  was  evidently  from 
the  author  of  the  Discourses  on  Davila.  I  am  afraid  the  indiscre 
tion  of  a  printer  has  committed  me  with  my  friend  Mr.  Adams,  for 
whom,  as  one  of  the  most  honest  and  disinterested  men  alive,  I  have  a 
cordial  esteem,  increased  by  long  habits  of  concurrence  in  opinion  in 
the  days  of  his  republicanism ;  and  ever  since  his  apostasy  to  heredi 
tary  monarchy  and  nobility,  though  we  differ,  we  differ  as  friends 
should  do. 

"  Mr.  Adams  will  unquestionably  take  to  himself  the  charge  of  poli 
tical  heresy,  as  conscious  of  his  own  views  of  drawing  the  present  gov 
ernment  to  the  form  of  the  English  constitution,  and,  I  fear,  will  con 
sider  me  as  meaning  to  injure  him  in  the  public  eye.  I  certainly 
never  made  a  secret  of  my  being  anti-monarchical,  and  anti-aristo- 
cratical ;  but  I  am  sincerely  mortified  to  be  thus  brought  foward  on 
the  public  stage,  where  to  remain,  to  advance,  or  to  retire,  will  be 
equally  against  my  love  of  silence  and  quiet,  and  my  abhorrence  of 
dispute." 

We  have  given  the  minute  history  of  this  transaction,  not  only 
because  of  its  important  bearing  on  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  but 
because  it  traces  up  to  the  fountain  head  one  of  the  many  streams 
which,  flowing  together  in  after  times,  have  conspired  to  swell  the 
mighty  tide  of  party  spirit  that  now  sweeps  through  the  land. 

John  Randolph  was  in  Philadelphia  during  this  time;  partici 
pated  in  the  interest  and  excitement  of  the  occasion ;  heard  the  dis 
cussions  in  the  various  circles  into  which  he  was  freely  admitted  ;  saw 
people  become  inflamed  with  the  Anglomania  or  the  Gallomania,  and 
arrange  themselves  under  the  banners  of  their  respective  champions 
as  Burkites  or  Painites,  according  as  they  were  inclined  to  admire 
the  British  Constitution,  or  the  more  free  and  levelling  doctrines  of 
the  French  Revolution,  and  plainly  perceived  that  that  great  event 
was  destined  to  swallow  up  every  minor  consideration,  and  to  give 
character  and  complexion  to  the  politics  of  his  own  country.  But 
while  he  was  a  democratic  republican,  a  follower  of  Jefferson  in  all 
that  pertained  to  his  political  doctrines  and  interpretation  of  the 
Constitution,  pre-eminently  a  disciple  of  the  Mason  and  Henry 
school  of  States'  rights,  yet  he  did  not  become  a  Painite  in  the 
sense  that  term  was  used  by  Mr.  Jefferson.  In  the  expressive  lan 
guage  of  Governor  Tazewell,  he  could  not  bear  Tom  Paine ;  he  ad 


THOMAS  PAINE— EDMUND  BURKE.  57 

mired  Burke,  though  himself  a  jacobin  !  While  he  rejoiced  in  the  over 
throw  of  despotism  by  the  French  people,  he  could  not  fail  to  perceive 
that  they  were  better  fitted  to  destroy  tyrants  than  obey  the  laws  ;  and 
hastened  to  learn  those  lessons  of  wisdom  that  fell  from  the  lips  of 
the  great  master  of  political  philosophy,  who,  from  the  few  events  al 
ready  transpired,  foretold  with  the  clearness  of  a  Hebrew  prophet, 
the  wretched  end  to  which  they  were  hastening.  We  regard  this  as 
a  most  remarkable  fact  in  the  history  of  that  young  man.  The  de 
sign  of  Burke  was  eminently  conservative.  He  saw  the  conse 
quences  of  a  dissemination  of  French  revolutionary  doctrines  among 
the  English  people ;  his  purpose  was  to  shut  out  from  England 
what  the  kings  of  Europe  called  the  French  evil. 

With  this  design,  he  gives  a  most  beautiful  and  masterly  expo 
sition  of  the  British  Constitution,  from  Magna  Charta  to  the 
declaration  of  rights.  He  calls  it  an  entailed  inheritance,  derived  to 
us  (the  people  of  England)  from  our  forefathers,  and  to  be  transmitted 
to  our  posterity  ;  as  an  estate  specially  belonging  to  the  people  of 
this  kingdom — an  inheritable  crown — an  inheritable  peerage  ;  and  a 
House  of  Commons,  and  a  people  inheriting  privileges,  franchises, 
and  liberties  from  a  long  line  of  ancestors. 

With  the  same  masterly  hand  he  makes  bare  the  composmon  of 
the  French  National  Assembly — the  characters  that  compose  it — the 
few  acts  they  had  already  performed  during  a  single  year ;  and  then 
predicts,  from  these  elements  of  calculation,  that  France  will  be 
wholly  governed  by  the  agitators  in  corporations,  by  societies  in  the 
towns  formed  of  directors  in  assignats,  and  trustees  for  the  sale  of 
church  lands,  attorneys,  agents,  money-jobbers,  speculators,  and  ad 
venturers,  composing  an  ignoble  oligarchy,  founded  on  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  crown,  the  church,  the  nobility,  and  the  people.  Here 
end  all  the  deceitful  dreams  and  visions  of  this  equality,  and  the 
rights  of  man.  In  the  Serbonian  bog  of  this  base  oligarchy,  they  are 
all  absorbed,  sunk,  and  lost  for  ever.  The  present  form  of  the 
French  commonwealth,  he  says,  cannot  remain  ;  but  before  its  final 
settlement  it  may  be  obliged  to  pass,  as  one  of  our  poets  says, 
"  through  great  varieties  of  untried  being ;"  and  in  all  its  transmi 
grations  to  be  purified  by  fire  and  blood  ! 

It  is  not  surprising  that  such  a  book  as  this  should  be  seized 
upon  by  the  partisans  of  England,  and  held  up  as  a  justification  of 
3* 


58  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

their  doctrine  that  the  British  Constitution,  with  all  its  corruptions, 
was  the  best  model  of  a  government  the  world  ever  saw ;  and  as  a 
vindication  of  the  abhorrence  they  had  expressed  for  the  doctrines 
of  the  French  Revolution,  and  their  tendency. 

But  it  is  a  matter  of  no  little  surprise  that  a  mere  stripling,  a 
youth  of  some  eighteen  or  twenty  years  of  age,  himself  a  republican 
and  a  jacobin,  with  an  ardent  temperament  and  a  lively  imagination, 
should  have  the  independence  to  ponder  over  the  pages  of  a  book 
condemned  by  his  associates ;  the  judgment  to  perceive  its  value, 
and  the  discrimination  to  leave  out  that  which  peculiarly  belonged 
to  England  or  to  France,  without  being  inflamed  by  its  arguments,  and 
to  appropriate  to  himself  those  rich  treasures  of  wisdom  to  be  found 
in  its  pages :  the  massive  ingots  of  gold  that  constitute  the  greater 
part  of  that  magnificent  monument  of  human  intellect.  As  we  have 
said,  the  writings  of  Edmund  Burke  are  the  key  to  the  political 
opinions  of  John  Randolph. 

In  after  life,  as  he  grew  in  experience,  those  opinions  became 
more  and  more  assimilated  to  the  doctrines  of  his  great  master. 

His  position  in  society,  his  large  hereditary  possessions,  his  pride 
of  ancestry,  his  veneration  for  the  commonwealth  of  Virginia,  her 
ancient^laws  and  institutions ;  his  high  estimation  of  the  rights  of 
property  in  the  business  of  legislation, — all  conspired  to  shape  his 
thoughts,  and  mould  them  in  matters  pertaining  to  domestic  polity 
after  the  fashion  of  those  who  have  faith  in  the  old,  the  long- 
established,  and  the  venerable.  No  one  can  trace  his  course  in  the 
Virginia  Convention,  or  read  his  speeches,  which  had  a  remarkable 
influence  on  the  deliberations  of  that  body,  without  perceiving  that 
his  deep  and  practical  wisdom  is  of  the  same  stamp,  and  but  little 
inferior  to  the  great  Gamaliel  at  whose  feet  he  was  taught. 


YOUTHFUL  COMPANIONS.  59 


CHAPTEE   XII. 

YOUTHFUL    COMPANIONS. 

WE  are  not  to  suppose  that  a  youth,  in  the  joyous  hours  of  his 
dawning  faculties,  devoted  his  time,  or  any  great  portion  of  it,  to  the 
society  of  sober  statesmen,  or  to  the  grave  study  of  political  science. 
Far  other  were  the  associates  and  companions  of  John  Randolph 
during  his  residence  in  the  Quaker  city,  even  at  that  day  renowned 
for  its  intelligent,  polished,  gay,  and  fashionable  society. 

With  occasional  visits  to  Virginia,  and  a  short  residence  of  a 
few  weeks  in  Williamsburg  during  the  autumn  of  1793,  Phila 
delphia,  till  the  spring  of  1794,  continued  to  be  his  place  of  abode. 
His  companions  were  Batte,  Carter,  Epps,  Marshall,  and  Rose  of 
Virginia;  Bryan  of  Georgia,  and  Rutledge  of  South  Carolina. 
Most  of  these  were  young  men  of  wealth,  education,  refined  man 
ners,  high  sense  of  honor,  and  of  noble  bearing.  John  W.  Epps 
afterwards  became  a  leading  member  of  Congress,  married  the, 
daughter  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  in  1813  was  the  successful  rival  of 
Randolph  on  the  hustings  before  the  people.  Joseph  Bryan  like 
wise  in  a  short  time  became  a  leading  character  in  Georgia,  was  a 
member  of  Congress  from  that  State,  and  to  the  day  of  his  untimely 
death  continued  to  be  the  bosom  friend  of  the  associate  of  his  youth. 
Most  of  the  others,  though  unknown  to  fame,  adorned  the  social 
sphere  in  which  they  moved,  and  were  noble  specimens  of  the  unam 
bitious  scholar  and  the  gentleman.  Thomas  Marshall,  the  brother 
of  the  Chief  Justice,  and  father  of  Thomas  Marshall,  the  late  mem 
ber  of  Congress,  is  still  living.  He  is  a  man  of  extraordinary 
powers,  and  great  learning :  his  wit  and  genial  humor  are  not  to  be 
surpassed.  Those  who  knew  them  well  agree  that  his  natural  talents 
surpass  those  of  his  late  illustrious  brother,  the  Chief  Justice. 
Robert  Rose  was  a  man  of  genius ;  he  married  the  sister  of  Mr. 
Madison,  and  might  have  risen  to  any  station  in  his  profession 
(which  he  merely  studied  as  an  ornament),  in  letters,  or  in  politics, 
that  he  aspired  to ;  but,  like  too  many  in  his  sphere  and  station  in 


(50  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

society,  he  lived  a  life  of  inglorious  ease,  and  wasted  his  gifts,  like 
the  rose  its  sweets,  on  the  desert  air.  With  such  companions,  .we 
may  readily  suppose  there  was  fun  and  frolic  enough ;  but  nothing 
low  or  mean,  or  vulgar  or  sordid,  in  all  their  intercourse.  The  cor 
respondence  of  some  of  those  young  men  at  that  period  is  now  before 
the  writer.  It  is  very  clear  that  Randolph  was  the  centre  of 
attraction  in  that  joyous  circle  of  boon  companions.  And  while 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  indulged  in  all  the  license  allowed 
at  that  time  to  young  men  of  their  rank  and  fortune,  yet  he  passed 
through  that  critical  period  of  life  without  the  contamination  of  a 
single  vice.  Though  many  years  afterwards,  he  said,  "  I  know  by 
fatal  experience  the  fascinations  of  a  town  life,  how  they  estrange  the 
mind  from  its  old  habits  and  attachments."  Bryan,  in  February, 
1794,  wishes  him  all  the  happiness  that  is  attendant  on  virtue  and 
regularity.  Again,  in  speaking  of  one  of  their  companions,  to  whom 
Randolph  had  become  strongly  attached,  he  expresses  a  hope  that 
he  may  prove  worthy  of  the  friendship, — "  possessing  as  you  do," 
says  he,  "  a  considerable  knowledge  of  mankind,  your  soul  would  not 
have  knit  so  firmly  to  an  unworthy  object." 

Most  of  those  young  men  were  students  of  medicine.  Randolph 
also  attended  with  them  several  courses  of  lectures  in  anatomy  and 
physiology — sciences  that  are  indispensable  not  only  to  a  profession 
al,  but  to  a  liberal  and  gentlemanly  education.  We  do  not  learn,  as 
many  have  supposed,  that  he  studied  law  at  that  time  in  the  office 
of  his  relation,  Edmund  Randolph,  the  Attorney  General.  Two 
years  after  leaving  Philadelphia,  Bryan  writes  that  he  is  rejoiced  to 
hear  his  friend  has  serious  thoughts  of  attacking  the  law.  He  tells 
us  himself  that  he  never,  after  Theodorick  broke  up  his  regular 
habits  at  New-York,  devoted  himself  to  any  systematic  study,  ex 
cept  for  the  few  weeks  he  was  in  Williamsburg,  in  the  autumn  of 
1793.  So  we  conclude  that  he  never  made  the  law  a  matter  of  se 
rious  study,  certainly  never  with  the  view  of  making  it  a  profession. 

In  April,  1794,  he  returned  to  Virginia.  In  June  he  was  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  and  then  took  upon  himself  the  management  of 
his  patrimonial  estates,  which  were  heavily  encumbered  with  a  Brit 
ish  debt.  Matoax  was  still  in  the  family,  but  was  sold  about  this 
time  for  three  thousand  pounds  sterling,  to  pay  off  a  part  of  the 
above  debt.  The  mansion  house  has  since  been  burnt,  but  the  same 


RICHARD  RANDOLPH.  61 

estate  now  would  not  bring  three  hundred  dollars,  although  it  is 
within  three  miles  of  Petersburg. 

Richard  Randolph,  the  elder  brother,  lived  at  Bizarre,  an  estate 
on  the  Appomatox,  about  ninety  miles  above  Petersburg.  It  is  near 
Farmville,  but  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  in  Cumberland  coun 
ty.  John  made  his  brother's  house  his  home,  while  his  own  estate, 
called  Roanoke,  lay  about  thirty  miles  south  on  the  Roanoke  river, 
in  the  county  of  Charlotte. 


CHAPTER    XIII 

RICHARD   RANDOLPH. 

WITH  Richard  the  reader  has  already  formed  some  slight  acquaint 
ance.  In  1789  he  married  Judith  Randolph,  the  daughter  of  Thom 
as  Mann  Randolph,  of  Tuckahoe.  Judith  was  a  relation  in  both 
the  direct  and  collateral  lines.  Her  father,  Thomas  Mann,  was  the 
son  of  William,  who  was  the  son  of  Thomas  of  Tuckahoe,  the  son 
of  William,  the  first  founder  of  the  family  in  Virginia.  Her  mother 
was  Anne  Gary,  the  daughter  of  Mary  Gary,  who  was  the  daughter 
of  the  first  Richard  of  Curies,  and  the  sister  of  the  second  Richard 
of  Curies,  the  grandfather  of  Richard  her  husband.  This  lady  was 
remarkable  for  her  great  strength  of  mind,  for  her  many  virtues,  and 
high  accomplishments.  Richard  was  regarded  as  the  most  promis 
ing  young  man  in  Virginia.  His  talents  were  only  surpassed  by  his 
extraordinary  goodness  of  character. 

Let  his  own  grateful  acknowledgments  to  his  father-in-law,  Judge 
Tucker,  speak  for  him.  "  Accept,"  says  he,  "  once  more,  my  beloved 
father,  the  warmest  effusions  of  a  heart  that  knows  but  one  tie  su 
perior  to  that  which  binds  him  to  the  .best  of  parental  friends. 
When  I  look  back  to  those  times  wherein  I  was  occupied  in  forming 
my  mind  for  the  reception  of  professional  knowledge,  and  indeed  to 
whatever  period  of  my  life  I  cast  my  eyes,  something  presents  itself 
to  remind  me  of  the  source  whence  sprung  all  my  present  advanta 
ges  and  happiness.  Something  continually  shows  my  father  to  me 


62  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

in  the  double  light  of  parent  and  friend.  While  I  recognize  all  the 
attention  I  have  received  from  him,  all  the  precepts  inculcated  by 
him ;  while  I  feel  that  if  I  have  any  virtuous  emotions  or  pleasures, 
they  are  all  derived  from  him,  that  to  him  I  owe  whatever  capacity 
I  possess  of  being  useful  in  the  world  I  am  in — while  all  these  re 
flections  are  crowding  into  my  mind,  I  feel  a  sensation  that  all  are 
strangers  to,  who  have  not  known  such  a  friend.  The  feelings  which 
arise  from  a  sense  of  gratitude  for  the  kindness  and  friendship  of 
my  father — the  tender  affection  inspired  by  his  virtues  and  his  love, 
are  as  delightful  to  my  soul,  as  the  knowledge  of  being  obliged  by 
those  we  despise  is  painful  and  oppressive."  A  grateful  heart 
obliged  by  a  worthy  and  beloved  object,  as  Milton  finely  says,  "  by 
owing  oives  not,  but  finds  itself  at  once  indebted  and  discharged." 
And  again  : — "  The  time  is  now  at  hand,  when  I  hope  you  will  be 
relieved  from  all  further  anxiety,  and  the  embarrassments  you  have 
too  long  endured  in  the  management  of  our  patrimony ;  when  my 
brother  and  myself  will  take  on  ourselves  our  own  troubles,  and 
when  the  end  of  your  administration  of  our  little  affairs  will  furnish 
the  world  with  one  complete  and  perhaps  solitary  example,  shall  I 
only  say,  of  an  unerring  guardian  of  infant  education  and  property? 
An  example,  I  glory  in  boasting  it,  of  an  adopted  father  surpassing 
in  parental  affection,  and  unremitted  attention  to  his  adopted  chil 
dren,  all  the  real  fathers  who  are  known  to  any  one.  I  can  most 
sincerely  and  truly  declare,  that  in  no  one  moment  of  my  whole  life, 
have  I  ever  felt  the  loss  in  the  least  trifle." 

One  of  the  debts  owing  by  the  father  to  creditors  in  England, 
was  a  simple  open  account,  that  might  have  been  easily  avoided,  as 
it  was  not  binding  on  the  estate  devised  to  the  sons.  But  Richard 
wrote  to  Judge  Tucker,  "  I  urge  the  propriety,  indeed  necessity,  of 
paying  the  open  account  which  my  mother  always  said  was  recog 
nized  by  my  father  as  a  true  one,  and  ought  therefore  honestly  to  be 
discharged.  For  myself  I  can  never  bear  the  idea  of  a  just  debt 
due  from  my  father  to  any  one,  remaining  unsatisfied  while  I  have 
property  of  his,  firmly  convinced  as  I  am  that  he  had  no  equitable 
right,  whatever  power  the  law  may  have  given  him,  of  devising  me 
land  or  any  thing  else,  to  the  loss  of  any  of  his  just  creditors,  and 
that  under  this  conviction,  it  will  be  equally  iniquitous  in  me  to  re 
tain  such  property,  suffering  these  just  claims  to  pass  unnoticed." 


RICHARD  RANDOLPH.  33 

Nor  did  this  noble-minded  man  stop  here  in  his  high  sense  of 
right  and  justice.  He  again  writes  to  his  late  guardian : — "  With 
regard  to  the  division  of  the  estate,  I  have  only  to  say,  that  I  want 
not  a  single  negro  for  any  other  purpose  than  his  immediate  libera 
tion.  I  consider  every  individual  thus  unshackled  as  the  source  of 
future  generations,  not  to  say  nations  of  freemen  ;  and  I  shudder 
when  I  think  that  so  insignificant  an  animal  as  I  am,  is  invested 
with  this  monstrous,  this  horrid  power.  For  the  land  I  care  not  a 
jot.  I  am  ready  to  yield  all  my  claim  to  it.  I  am  ready  to  yield 
Matoax  or  its  profits,  and  all  of  my  Prince  Edward  and  Cumberland 
land,  except  a  bare  support,  rather  than  see  those  wretches  sacrificed 
at  the  shrine  of  unjust  and  lawless  power." 

Richard  was  bred  to  the  profession  of  law,  but  never  could  oe 
induced  to  engage  in  the  practice.  Nothing  but  necessity,  he  de 
clared,  could  overcome  his  disinclination.  It  was  not  the  fatigue  and 
disgust  that  repelled  him  so  much  as  the  chicane  and  low  cunning, 
which  his  observation  led  him  to  conclude  were  the  essential  qualifi 
cations  of  a  county  court  lawyer.  "  What  inducement,"  exclaimed 
he,  "  have  I  to  leave  a  happy  and  comfortable  home  to  search  for 
bustle,  fatigue  and  disappointment  ?  I  have  a  comfortable  subsist 
ence,  which  is  enough  to  make  me  happy." 

The  family  circle  was  composed  of  Richard,  his  wife,  Nancy  the 
sister  of  Mrs.  Randolph,  John  (Theodorick  had  died  in  February, 
1791),  and  Mrs.  Anna  Bland  Dudley  and  her  children.  Mrs.  Dudley 
was  the  daughter  of  Mrs.  Eaton,  the  sister  of  John  Randolph's 
mother.  They  lived  in  North  Carolina.  Her  husband  was  unfortu 
nate,  had  died  and  left  his  family  poor  and  dependent  on  their  friends. 
Richard  went  himself  to  North  Carolina,  brought  Mrs.  Dudley  and 
her  children  to  Virginia,  and  gave  them  an  asylum  under^  the  hos 
pitable  roof  of  Bizarre. 

John  did  not  confine  himself  much  to  home  or  business.  He 
kept  up  a  regular  correspondence  with  many  of  his  old  companions ; 
amused  himself  with  his  dog  and  gun,  and  visited  from  place  to  place 
among  his  friends.  As  a  specimen  of  his  wanderings,  we  give  the 
following  memorandum  made  by  himself: 

November,  1795. 
Monday,  30. — Bizarre  to  D.  Meade's. 


[.  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

December. 
Tuesday,  1.— Capt.  Murray's. 

3.— Richmond. 
Wednesday,  9.— Petersburg. 
Thursday,  17. — Left  Petersburg  to  Jenito. 
Friday,  18.— To  F.  Archer's  and  D.  Meade's. 

Saturday,  19.— D.  Meade's  to  Bizarre  ;  received  letter  from  Rutledge. 
Sunday,  20. — Roanoke. 
Sunday,  27. — From  Roanoke  to  Bizarre. 
Tuesday,  29.— To  Roanoke. 
Thursday,  31.— To  Bizarre. 
January,  '96,  New- Year's  day  at  Bizarre. 
Saturday.  2. — To  Major  Eggleston's. 
Sunday,  3.— Colonel  Botts. 
Monday,  4. — Petersburg. 
Friday,  15.— At  Jenito  Bridge. 
Saturday,  16.— At  D.  Meade's. 
Sunday,  17.— At  D.  Meade's. 


CHAPTEE    XIY. 

VISIT  TO   CHARLESTON   AND   GEORGIA. 

His  old  friends,  Bryan  and  Rutledge,  had  for  some  time  been  urging 
him  to  pay  them  a  visit.  Bryan  directed  his  letters  to  "  Citizen 
John  Randolph,  of  Charlotte  county,  Virginia,"  and  says,  "  I  am 
happy  to  hear  you  are  settled  in  a  healthy  part  of  Virginia,  but  I 
am  almost  inclined  to  think  my  friend  premature  in  settling  so  early, 
as  you  will  in  a  great  measure  be  deprived  of  that  freedom  you  know 
so  well  how  to  enjoy."  He  then  urges  him  to  visit  Georgia.  "You 
will  find  me  on  the  sea-coast,"  says  he,  "  and  as  you  bribe  me  with  a 
pipe,  I  can  promise  in  return  best  Spanish  segars  and  the  best  of  li 
quors — good  horses,  deer-hunting  in  perfection — good  companions, 
that  is  to  say,  not  merely  bottle  crackers,  Jack,  but  good,  sound,  well- 
informed  Democrats." 

This  long-expected  visit  was  made  in  the  spring  of  1 796.  On 
the  back  of  a  letter  received  from  Rutledge,  he  lays  out  the  pro 
gramme  of  his  journey,  with  the  various  distances  and  stages,  from 
Bizarre  to  Charleston ;  then  concludes  the  memorandum  with  these 


VISIT  TO  CHARLESTON  AND  GEORGIA.  65 

words :  "  Where  I  hope  to  embrace  the  friend  of  my  youth ;  the 
sight  of  whom  will  ten  thousand  times  repay  this  tedious  journey." 

E.  S.  Thomas,  in  his  Reminiscences  of  the  last  Sixty-five  Years, 
printed  at  Hartford,  in  1840,  thus  speaks  of  him:  "  On  a  bright  sun 
ny  morning,  early  in  February,  1 796,  might  have  been  seen  entering 
my  bookstore  in  Charleston,  S.  C.,  a  fine-looking,  florid  complexioned 
old  gentleman,  with  hair  white  as  snow,  which,  contrasted  with  his 
own  complexion,  showed  him  to  have  been  a  free  liver,  or  bon-vivant 
of  the  first  order.  Along  with  him  was  a  tall,  gawky-looking  flaxen- 
haired  stripling,  apparently  of  the  age  from  sixteen  to  eighteen,  with 
a  complexion  of  a  good  parchment  color,  beardless  chin,  and  as  much 
assumed  self-consequence  as  any  two-footed  animal  I  ever  saw.  This 
was  John  Randolph.  I  handed  him  from  the  shelves  volume  after 
volume,  which  he  tumbled  carelessly  over,  and  handed  back  again. 
At  length  he  hit  upon  something  that  struck  his  fancy.  My  eye 
happened  to  be  fixed  upon  his  face  at  the  moment,  and  never  did  I 
witness  so  sudden,  so  perfect  a  change  of  the  human  countenance.  That 
which  before  was  dull  and  heavy,  in  a  moment  became  animated  and 
flushed  with  the  brightest  beams  of  intellect.  He  stepped  up  to  the 
old  gray-headed  gentleman,  and,  giving  him  a  thundering  slap  on 
the  shoulder,  said,  "  Jack,  look  at  this ! !"  I  was  young,  then,  but 
I  never  can  forget  the  thought  that  rushed  upon  my  mind  at  the 
moment,  which  was  that  he  was  the  most  impudent  youth  I  ever  saw. 
He  had  come  to  Charleston  to  attend  the  races.  There  was  then 
living  in  Charleston  a  Scotch  Baronet,  by  the  name  of  Sir  John 
Nesbit,  with  his  younger  brother  Alexander,  of  the  ancient  house  of 
Nesbits,  of  Dean  Hall,  some  fifteen  miles  from  Edinburgh.  Sir  John 
was  a  very  handsome  man,  and  as  '  gallant  gay  Lothario'  as  could 
be  found  in  the  city.  He  and  Randolph  became  intimate,  which  led 
to  a  banter  between  them  for  a  race,  in  which  each  was  to  ride  his 
own  horse.  The  race  came  off  during  the  same  week,  and  Randolph 
won  ;  some  of  the  ladies  exclaiming  at  the  time,  '  though  Mr.  Ran 
dolph  had  won  the  race,  Sir  John  had  won  their  hearts.'  This  was 
not  so  much  to  be  wondered  at,  when  you  contrasted  the  elegant 
form  and  graceful  style  of  riding  of  the  Baronet,  with  the  uncouth 
and  awkward  manner  of  his  competitor." 

From  Charleston,  Randolph  pursued  his  journey  into  Georgia, 
and  spent  several  months  with  his  friend  Bryan. 


66  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

We  cannot  doubt  that  these  young  men  enjoyed  themselves  in 
the  manner  that  young  men  usually  enjoy  themselves  on  such  occa 
sions.  Bryan,  in  his  subsequent  letters,  frequently  alludes  to  some 
amusing  incident  that  occurred  during  the  sojourn  of  his  friend  in 
Georgia.  "  My  eldest  brother,"  says  he,  "  still  bears  a  friendly  re 
membrance  of  the  rum  ducking  you  gave  him." 

But  the  all-absorbing  subject  in  Georgia,  at  the  time  of  Randolph's 
visit,  was  the  Yazoo  question. 

On  the  7th  day  of  February,  1795,  the  Legislature  of  Georgia 
passed  an  act  authorizing  the  sale  of  four  tracts  of  land,  therein 
described,  and  comprehending  the  greater  part  of  the  country  west  of 
the  Alabama  river,  to  four  companies,  called  the  Georgia,  the  Georgia 
Mississippi,  the  Upper  Mississippi,  and  the  Tennessean  Companies, 
for  which  they  were  to  pay  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  land 
contained  within  the  boundaries  of  the  several  companies  was  esti 
mated  by  the  claimants  at  forty  millions  of  acres.  The  sale  of  a 
country  so  extensive,  for  a  sum  so  far  below  its  value,  excited  imme 
diate  and  universal  indignation  in  the  State  of  Georgia.  The  mo 
tives  of  the  Legislature  were  questioned  and  examined.  Their  cor 
ruption  was  established  on  the  most  indisputable  evidence.  Up 
wards  of  sixty-four  depositions  were  taken,  that  developed  a  scene  of 
villany  and  swindling  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  any  country. 
On  comparing  a  list  of  the  names  of  the  companies  with  the  names 
of  the  persons  who  voted  for  the  land,  it  appeared  that  all  the  mem 
bers  in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  Georgia,  who 
voted  in  favor  of  the  law,  were,  with  one  single  exception,  interested 
in  and  parties  to  the  purchase.  Every  member  who  voted  for  the 
law  received  either  money  or  land  for  his  vote.  The  guardians  of 
the  rights  of  the  people  united  with  swindlers,  defrauded  their  con 
stituents,  sold  their  votes,  betrayed  the  delegated  trust  reposed  in 
them,  and  basely  divided  among  themselves  the  lands  of  the  people 
of  Georgia.  This  flagrant  abuse  of  power,  this  enormous  act  of  cor 
ruption,  was  viewed  with  abhorrence  by  every  honest  man.  The  press 
through  the  country  burst  out  in  a  blaze  of  indignation.  All  the 
grand  juries  of  the  State  (except  in  two  counties,  where  there  were 
corrupt  majorities  of  Yazoo  men,)  presented  this  law  as  a  public 
robbery,  and  a  deliberate  fraud.  The  Convention  which  met  in  the 
month  ••*•  May,  1795,  at  Louisville,  was  crowded  with  petitions  from 


VISIT  TO  CHARLESTON  AND  GEORGIA.  67 

every  part  of  the  State,  which,  by  an  order  of  the  Convention,  was 
referred  to  the  succeeding  Legislature.  This  Legislature  was 
elected  solely  with  reference  to  that  question.  Repeal  or  no  repeal, 
Yazoo  and  anti-Yazoo,  was  the  only  subject  canvassed  before  the 
people.  On  the  30th  of  January,  1796,  an  act  was  passed,  with  only 
three  dissenting  voices,  declaring  the  usurped  act  of  February,  1795, 
void,  and  expunging  the  same  from  the  public  records.  At  a  sub 
sequent  period,  this  expunging  act  was  engrafted  on  the  Constitu 
tion,  and  made  a  fundamental  law  of  the  land. 

Randolph  arrived  in  Georgia  in  the  midst  of  this  excitement,  and 
shared  with  his  friends  their  indignation  at  that  flagrant  act  of  cor 
ruption  on  the  part  of  the  agents  of  the  people.  The  famous  Yazoo 
claim,  which  afterwards  made  such  a  noise  in  Congress,  was  preferred 
by  the  New  England  Mississippi  Land  Company,  to  recover  from 
Congress  the  value  of  the  lands  thus  fraudulently  obtained.  It  was 
in  opposition  to  this  application,  that  Randolph  immortalized  himself 
in  speeches  that  will  stand  the  test  of  time,  and  of  criticism  the 
severest  scrutiny.  It  was  among  those  who  had  been  betrayed,  in 
the  midst  of  the  people  who  were  burning  with  shame  at  the  insult 
and  indignity  offered  them,  that  he  caught  the  fire  of  inspiration  that 
winged  his  words  with  such  a  withering  power  as  to  drive  from  the 
halls  of  Congress  for  more  than  ten  years,  so  long  as  he  had  a  seat 
there,  all  those  who  were  interested  in  the  nefarious  scheme. 

John  Randolph  returned  from  this  visit  of  friendship,  and  arrived 
in  Virginia  about  the  first  of  July.  He  was  destined  to  experience 
a  shock  such  as  he  had  never  felt  before.  His  brother  Richard  died 
the  14th  of  June,  on  Tuesday,  about  4  o'clock  in  the  morning;  such 
was  the  minute  record  made  of  it  himself.  This  sudden  and  unex 
pected  calamity  crushed  him  down. 

Next  to  the  death  of  his  mother  this  was  the  severest  blow  he  had 
ever  received.  His  mother  died  when  he  was  a  child.  Though 
mournful,  yet  sweet  was  the  memory  of  her  image,  associated  with 
those  days  of  innocence  and  brightness.  But  the  strong  bonds  of 
fraternal  affection  in  grown  up  men,  were  now  torn  asunder ;  the 
much  prized  treasure  of  a  brother's  love  is  suddenly  taken  from  him, 
leaving  no  pleasant  memories  to  soothe  the  pain  of  so  deep  a  wound. 
His  best  friend  and  counsellor,  the  first  born  of  his  father's  house, 
its  pride,  and  cherished  representative,  hurried  away  in  his  absence 


68  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

to  an  untimely  grave — he  not  present  to  receive  his  last  breath,  and 
to  close  his  lifeless  eyes.  He  never  recovered  from  this  stroke.  The 
anguish  of  his  heart  was  as  fresh  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
birthday  of  that  brother,  as  when  first  he  experienced  the  desola 
tion  made  in  the  domestic  circle  at  Bizarre  by  the  hand  of  death. 
How  touching  is  the  following  simple  note  addressed  to  his  brother., 
Henry  St.  George  Tucker,  many,  many  years  after  this  sad  event ! 
"Dear  Henry: — Our  poor  brother  Richard  was  born  1770.  He 
would  have  been  fifty-six  years  old  on  the  9th  of  this  month  I  can 
no  more.  J.  R.  of  R."  In  the  deep  solitude  of  his  heart,  the  only 
green  spot  was  the  memory  of  the  days  of  his  youth. 

Few  events  exerted  a  greater  influence  over  the  mind  and  charac 
ter  of  John  Randolph  than  the  death,  the  untimely  and  Sudden 
death,  of  his  brother.  Richard,  as  we  have  said,  was  the  most  pro 
mising  man  in  Virginia.  John  Thompson,  himself  a  man  of  brilliant 
genius,  nipped  also  in  the  blooming,  thus  writes :  "  Grief  like  yours, 
my  dear  friend,  is  not  to  be  alleviated  by  letters  of  condolence.  The 
anguish  of  hearts  like  yours  cannot  be  mitigated  by  the  maxims  of 
an  unfeeling  and  unnatural  philosophy.  Let  such  consolation  be 
administered  to  the  insensible  being,  who  mourns  without  sorrow, 
whose  tears  fall  from  a  sense  of  decorum,  and  whose  melancholy 
ceases  the  instant  fashion  permits.  Let  some  obdurate  moralist  in 
struct  this  selfish  being,  that  the  death  of  a  friend  is  not  a  misfortune, 
and  that  sensibility  is  weakness.  Nothing  but  sympathy  ought  to 
be  offered  to  you.  Accept  that  offering  from  one  of  your  sincerest 
friends.  My  heart  was  long  divided  between  you  and  your  brother. 
His  death  has  left  a  void  which  you  will  occupy.  I  will  fondly  cher 
ish  his  memory.  Painful  as  the  retrospect  is,  I  will  often  contem 
plate  his  virtues  and  his  talents.  Never  shall  I  perform  that  holy 
exercise  without  feeling  new  virtue  infused  into  my  soul.  To  you  I 
will  give  that  friendship,  of  which  he  can  no  longer  be  sensible. 
Take  it,  and  return  it  if  you  can.  I  cannot  write  your  brother's  eulo- 
gium.  Although  his  fame  was  only  in  the  dawn,  although  like  a  me 
teor  he  perished  as  soon  as  he  began  to  dazzle,  I  cannot  sound  his 
praise.  His  life  would  be  a  pathetic  tale  of  persecuted  genius  and 
oppressed  innocence.  The  fictions  of  romance  cannot  present  so  af 
fecting  a  story.  When  his  country  was  preparing  to  do  him  ample 
justice,  and  to  recompense  his  sufferings  by  her  warmest  admiration, 


AT  HOME.  gg 

Death  marked  him  for  his  victim.  Modern  degeneracy  had  not 
reached  him. 

"  Nervous  eloquence  and  dauntless  courage  fitted  him  to  save  his 
sinking  country.  He  has  left  no  memorial  of  his  talents  behind. 
He  was  born  to  enlighten  posterity,  but  posterity  will  not  hear  of 
him. 

"  0  Providence,  thy  dispensations  are  dark  !  We  cannot  compre 
hend  them  !  His  amiable  wife,  his  children — but  here  my  heart  be 
gins  to  bleed — I  cannot  go  on." 


CHAPTEE   XY. 

AT  HOME. 

JOHN  RANDOLPH,  now  became  the  head  of  a  large  household,  was 
suddenly  thrown  into  a  position  of  great  responsibility.  His  own 
estate  was  very  large  ;  so  was  his  brother's — and  both  were  heavily 
encumbered  with  a  British  debt,  contracted  by  the  father  many  years 
before. 

Richard  liberated  his  slaves.  This  was  a  mark  of  his  great  be 
nevolence  of  feeling  and  nobleness  of  character.  But  it  proved  in 
the  end  to  be  a  mistaken  philanthropy.  Left  in  the  country  where 
they  had  been  slaves,  those  negroes  soon  became  idle  and  profligate 
vagabonds  and  thieves ;  a  burthen  to  themselves,  and  a  pest  to  the 
neighborhood.  The  family  at  Bizarre  consisted  of  Mrs.  Randolph, 
her  two  infant  children,  St.  George  and  Tudor,  Mrs.  Dudley  and  her 
children,  Nancy  and  John  Randolph.  For  nearly  fifteen  years,  till 
Bizarre  was  destroyed  by  fire,  he  continued  at  the  head  of  the  house 
hold.  Though  twenty-three  years  of  age  at  the  death  of  his  brother, 
he  had  the  appearance  of  a  youth  of  sixteen,  and  was  not  grown.  He 
grew  a  full  head  taller  after  this  period. 

His  extreme  sensibility  had  been  deeply  touched — the  quick 
irritability  of  his  temper  exasperated  by  the  tragic  events  of  his 
family.  A  father's  face  he  had  never  seen,  save  what  his  lively  ima 
gination  would  picture  to  itself  from  the  lines  of  a  miniature  likeness 
which  he  always  wore  in  his  bosom.  The  fond  caresses  of  a  tender 


70  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

mother,  who  aloiw  knew  him,  were  torn  from  him  in  his  childhood. 
The  second  brother  had  died  in  his  youth  ;  and  now  the  oldest,  the 
best,  the  pride  and  hope  of  the  family,  after  years  of  suffering  and 
persecution,  just  as  he  had  triumphed  over  calumny  and  oppression, 
was  suddenly  called  away.  We  may  well  imagine  how  deep,  how 
poignant  was  his  grief,  when  thirty  years  thereafter,  in  the  solitude 
of  his  hermitage  at  Roanoke,  his  lively  fancy  brought  back  those 
early  scenes  with  all  the  freshness  of  recent  events,  and  caused  him 
to  exclaim  with  the  Indian  Chief,  who  had  been  deprived  of  all  his 
children  by  the  white  man's  hand — "  Not  a  drop  of  Logan's  blood — 
father's  blood  except  St.  George,  the  most  bereaved  and  pitiable  of 
the  step-sons  of  nature  !" 

His  room  at  Bizarre  was  immediately  under  the  chamber  of 
Mrs.  Dudley.  She  never  waked  in  the  night  that  she  did  not  hear 
him  moving  about,  sometimes  striding  across  the  floor,  and  exclaim 
ing,  "  Macbeth  hath  'murdered  sleep !  Macbeth  hath  murdered 
sleep  !"  She  has  known  him  to  have  his  horse  saddled  in  the  dead 
of  night,  and  ride  over  the  plantation  with  loaded  pistols. 

His  natural  temper  became  more  repulsive  ;  he  had  no  confiden 
tial  friend,  nor  would  any  tie,  however  sacred,  excuse  inquiry.  Why 
should  it  ?  for  who  can  minister  to  a  mind  diseased,  or  pluck  from 
the  heart  its  rooted  sorrow  ?  Why  then  expose,  even  to  friendship's 
eye,  the  lacerated  wounds  that  no  balm  can  cure  ? 

He  grew  more  restless  than  ever,  though  his  home  had  every 
external  arrangement  to  make  it  agreeable.  Hear  him  describe  it : 
"  Mrs.  Randolph,  of  Bizarre,  my  brother's  widow,  was,  beyond  all 
comparison,  the  nicest  and  best  housewife  that  I  ever  saw.  Not  one 
drop  of  water  was  ever  suffered  to  stand  on  her  sideboard,  except 
what  was  in  the  pitcher ;  the  house,  from  cellar  to  garret,  and  in 
every  part,  as  clean  as  hands  could  make  it ;  and  every  thing  as  it 
should  be  to  suit  even  my  fastidious  taste.  Never  did  I  see  or 
smell  any  thing  to  offend  my  senses,  or  my  imagination."  Those 
who  lived  there  had  been  taught  in*the  school  of  affliction.  Chas 
tened  and  subdued  by  their  own  sorrows,  they  had  learned  to  feel 
for  the  misfortunes  of  others.  That  home,  which  could  not  fill  the 
aching  void  of  its  youthful  master's  heart,  or  soothe  the  earnest 
longings  of  his  wounded  soul,  was  made  the  delightful  retreat  and 


AT  HOME.  71 

asylum  of  the  distressed  and  the  unfortunate.  There  could  they 
find  sympathy  and  encouragement. 

To  escape  from  the  burden  and  pain  of  his  own  thoughts,  John 
Randolph  often  fled  to  his  friends  in  distant  parts  of  the  country. 
For  the  next  three  years  he  was  frequently  found  at  the  residence 
of  his  father-in-law,  in  Williamsburg.  He  often  visited  Mr.  Wick- 
ham,  who  lived  in  the  same  city.  That  gentleman  had  taken  a  great 
liking  to  him.  He  was  the  agent  of  the  British  creditors,  who  held 
a  mortgage  on  the  Randolph  estates.  His  forbearance  and  indulgence 
were  highly  appreciated  by  him  on  whom  the  whole  burthen  of  pay 
ment  had  now  fallen.  He  returned  this  act  of  kindness  by  an  ardent 
affection  for  the  .man,  and  a  high  admiration  of  his  character.  He 
has  said,  "  John  Wickham  was  my  best  of  friends  without  making 
any  professions  of  friendship  for  me  ;  and  the  best  and  wisest  man  I 
ever  knew  except  Mr.  Macon." 

When  interrogated  by  Mr.  Wickham  as  to  what  he  had  been  do 
ing,  Governor  Tazewell,  who  was  his  youthful  companion  on  those 
visits,  says  his  answer  was — Nothing,  sir,  nothing !  Yet  he  showed 
that  he  had  been  reading,  and  that  he  had  digested  well  what  he  had 
read.  The  conversation  was  generally  on  the  politics  of  the  day — 
the  French  Revolution,  and  Burke,  which  was  his  political  Bible. 

That  he  pursued  no  systematic  course  of  reading  at  this  time  is 
certain.  Mrs.  Dudley  says  his  habits  of  study  one  could  not  ascer 
tain,  as  he  was  never  long  enough  in  one  place  to  study  much.  She 
has  frequently  heard  him  lament  that  he  was  fond  of  light  reading — 
has  known  him  to  seat  himself  by  the  candle,  where  she  and  Mrs. 
Randolph  were  knitting,  turn  over  the  leaves  of  a  book  carelessly,  like 
a  child,  without  seeming  to  read,  and  then  lay  it  down  and  tell  more 
about  it  than  those  who  had  studied  it.  He  had  a  fine  taste  for  mu 
sic,  but  it  was  uncultivated.  "  I  inherited  from  your  grandmother," 
says  he,  writing  to  his  niece,  Mrs.  Bryan,  "  an  exquisite  ear,  which 
has  never  received  the  slightest  cultivation.  This  is  owing  in  a  great 
measure  to  the  low  estimate  that  I  saw  the  fiddling,  piping  gentry 
held  in  when  I  was  young ;  but  partly  to  the  torture  that  my  poor 
brother  used  to  inflict  upon  me,  when  essaying  to  learn  to  play  upon 
the  violin,  now  about  forty  years  ago.  I  have  a  taste  for  painting, 
but  never  attempted  drawing.  I  had  read  a  great  deal  upon  it  and 
had  seen  a  few  good  pictures  before  I  went  to  England :  there  I  as- 


72  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

tonished  some  of  their  connoisseurs  as  much  by  the  facility  with 
which  I  pointed  out  the  hand  of  a  particular  master,  without  refer 
ence  to  the  catalogue  (I  never  mistook  the  hand  of  Van  Dyke — I 
had  seen  specimens  of  his  and  Reuben's  pencil,  and  some  other  great 
masters,  at  Mr.  Geo.  Calvert's,  near  Bladensburg — they  were  since 
sold  in  Europe),  as  by  my  exact  knowledge  of  the  geography,  topo 
graphy  and  statistics  of  the  country. 

"  For  poetry  I  have  had  a  decided  taste  from  my  childhood,  yet 
never  attempted  to  write  one  line  of  it.  This  taste  I  have  seaulously 
cultivated.  I  believe  that  I  was  deterred  from  attempting  poetry  by 
the  verses  of  Billy  Mumford,  and  some  other  taggers  of  rhyme, 
which  I  heard  praised  (I  allude  to  epistles  in  verse,. written  at  12  or 
13  years  old),  but  secretly  in  my  heart  despised.  I  also  remember 
to  have  heard  some  poetry  of  Lord  Chatham  and  of  Mr.  Fox,  which 
I  thought  then,  and  still  think,  to  be  unworthy  of  their  illustrious 
names — and  before  Horace  had  taught  me  that  '  neither  gods,  nor 
men,  nor  booksellers'  stalls  could  endure  middling  poetry,'  I  thought 
none  but  an  inspired  pen  should  attempt  the  task." 

Among  the  youthful  companions  that  he  most  valued  and  cher 
ished  about  this  time,  were  John  Thompson,  the  author  of  the  letter 
in  a  preceding  chapter,  and  his  brother  William  Thompson.  The 
following  is  a  memorandum  in  his  own  handwriting,  and  found  among 
his  papers  :  "  John  Thompson,  Jr.,  son  of  John  and  Anne  Thomp 
son,  of  Sussex,  born  3d  Nov.  1776,  died  25th  January,  1799.  He 
was  the  author  of  Graceus,  Cassius,  Curtius,  written  on  the  subject 
of  American  politics — speak  they  for  him"  And  surely  for  one  of 
his  age  they  were  remarkable  productions,  especially  the  latter  ad 
dressed  to  General  Marshall,  afterwards  Chief  Justice,  then  a  can 
didate  for  Congress  on  the  Federal  side  of  politics.  William  Thomp 
son  was  born  the  20th  of  August,  1778.  In  the  year  1798  he  and 
his  friend  John  Randolph  undertook  a  pedestrian  tour  to  the  Moun 
tains,  to  visit  Richard  Kidder  Meade,  a  relation  of  the  latter.  They 
started  from  Bizarre,  each  with  a  small  bundle  on  a  cane.  Mrs. 
Dudley  was  an  eye-witness  of  their  departure  and  of  their  return. 
She  was  informed  that  they  performed  the  whole  journey  on  foot. 
They  both  returned  in  fine  health  and  spirits.  Soon  after  this 
Thompson  went  to  Europe,  wandered  over  Germany,  studied  medi 
cine,  then  abandoned  it  for  the  law,  returned  to  Virginia,  went  on 


CANDIDATE  FOR  CONGRESS.  73 

foot  to  Canada  in  the  fall  of  1801.  Having  squandered  his  patri 
mony,  falling  into  dissipated  habits,  with  a  genius  equally  as  brilliant, 
though  far  more  eccentric  than  his  deceased  brother,  he  was  rapidly 
throwing  away  the  great  gifts  of  nature,  and  sinking  into  a  hopeless 
vagabond  and  outcast,  when  his  friend  Randolph  took  him  by  the  hand, 
brought  him  to  Bizarre,  made  it  his  home,  encouraged  him,  and  cher 
ished  him  with  the  affection  of  a  brother  so  long  as  he  could  be  per 
suaded  to  remain  in  Virginia.  With  him  hereafter  the  reader  will  be 
come  more  intimately  acquainted.  Writing  from  Bizarre  to  Randolph, 
in  his  absence,  he  says  .  "  My  dear  brother — Since  you  left  us  I  have 
been  deeply  engaged  in  what  you  advised.  I  have  reviewed  the  Ro 
man  and  the  Grecian  History.  I  have  done  more;  I  have  reviewed 
my  own.  Believe  me,  Jack,  that  I  am  less  calculated  for  society  than 
almost  any  man  in  existence.  I  am  not,  perhaps,  a  vain  fool,  but  I 
have  too  much  vanity,  and  I  am  too  susceptible  of  flattery.  I  have 
that  fluency  which  will  attract  attention  and  receive  applause  from  an 
unthinking  multitude.  Content  with  my  superiority,  I  should  be 
too  indolent  to  acquire  real,  useful  knowledge.  I  am  stimulated  by 
gratitude,  by  friendship,  and  by  love,  to  make  exertions  now.  I  feel 
confident  that  you  will  view  my  foibles  with  a  lenient  eye — that  you 
will  see  me  prosper,  and  in  my  progress  be  delighted." 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

CANDIDATE   FOE   CONGRESS — HISTORY   OF   THE   TIMES. 

WE  have  now  approached  an  important  period  in  the  life  of  John 
Randolph.  In  the  winter  of  1799,  in  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  his 
age,  he  was  announced  as  a  candidate  for  Congress  in  the  district 
which  afterwards  became  so  celebrated  as  the  Charlotte  district. 

John  Thompson,  writing  to  his  brother,  then  in  Europe,  says, 
"  Our  friend  John  Randolph  offers  for  Congress,  and  will  probably 
be  elected.  He  is  a  brilliant  and  noble  young  man.  He  will  be  an 
object  of  admiration  and  terror  to  the  enemies  of  liberty."  In  1  831, 
in  the  last  political  speech  he  ever  made,  he  is  reported  to  have  said 

VOL.  i.  4 


74  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

that  when  he  commenced  his  political  career  he  had  waged  a  warfare, 
remarkable  for  its  fierceness — he  had  almost  said  for  its  ferocity — 
against  certain  principles,  and  those  who  advocated  them.  When  he 
drew  his  sword  to  carry  on  that  warfare,  he  had  thrown  away  the 
scabbard,  and  as  he  never  asked  for  quarter,  so  he  did  not  always 
give  it.  It  becomes  necessary,  therefore,  in  order  to  understand  his 
position,  to  give  a  brief  and  general  outline  of  the  most  important 
events  which  had  occurred  up  to  the  time  that  he  made  his  appear 
ance  on  the  political  stage.  We  have  already  seen  that  the  source  of 
party  division  is  to  be  traced  to  the  Federal  Convention ;  that  those 
elements  of  discord  which  have  continued  to  agitate  the  country 
up  to  this  day,  had  their  birth  in  the  cradle  of  the  Constitution. 
Patrick  Henry  and  George  Mason  were  the  fathers  of  the  doctrine 
of  States-rights.  At  a  subsequent  period,  under  the  auspices  of 
Thomas  Jefferson,  those  doctrines  were  digested  into  the  canon  of  a 
regularly  organized  party  that 'exerted  a  powerful  influence  on  the 
administration  of  government.  The  difference  between  the  two  par 
ties,  Federalist  and  Republican,  as  they  respectively  called  them 
selves  at  that  time,  was  not  confined  to  the  interpretation  of  the 
Constitution. 

While  the  one  desired  and  the  other  deprecated  a  strong  govern 
ment,  the  spirit  that  inclined  them  to  bend  that  instrument  to  their 
wishes,  is  to  be  found  in  the  mental  and  moral  organization  of  the  men 
themselves.  Those  who  doubted  the  capacity  of  the  people  for  self- 
government  (and  there  were  many  at  that  time  when  our  experiment 
was  untried),  and  believed  that  the  only  efficient  control  was  to  be 
found  in  a  strong  government  in  the  hands  of  the  rich  and  well  born, 
naturally  inclined  to  an  interpretation  that  would  authorize  such 
measures  as  might  bring  about  such  a  state  of  things.  Those,  on  the 
other  hand,  who  had  full  faith  in  the  capacity  of  the  people,  com- 
batted  every  doctrine  which  in  their  judgment  tended  to  steal  power 
from  the  many  and  place  it  in  the  hands  of  the  few.  This  radical 
difference  of  sentiment,  which  originated  in  natural  temperament, 
and  was  modified  by  education  and  position  in  society,  influenced  the 
judgment  in  its  interpretation  of  every  measure  of  government,  and 
men  inclined  to  the  one  or  the  other  side,  according  as  they  believed 
the  measure  originated  in  the  one  or  the  other  doctrine  above  men 
tioned.  The  Republicans  accused  the  other  party  of  being  mon- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  TIMES.  75 

• 

archists  in  principle,  and  of  a  design  so  to  shape  the  administration 
of  affairs,  that  in  time  the  government  might  assume  that  form. 

The  Republicans  again  were  charged  by  their  opponents  with 
being  disorganizing  levellers,  and  the  enemies  of  all  government. 
The  first  great  questions  on  which  they  divided  were  the  financial 
schemes  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
"With  these  the  reader  has  already  been  made  acquainted.  The 
legislative  measures  enacted  from  time  to  time  to  carry  them  into 
effect,  finally  brought  on  a  crisis  in  the  whisky  insurrection,  as  it  was 
called,  when  the  people  in  the  western  counties  of  Pennsylvania,  by 
armed  force,  resisted  the  execution  of  the  excise  law.  The  Federal 
ists  were  accused  of  goading  on  this  rebellion,  that  they  might  have 
a  pretext  to  raise  a  standing  army,  to  be  used  as  an  instrument  for 
forcing  their  schemes  on  the  country.  The  Republicans  were  charged 
with  promoting  discontent  and  insurrection,  that  they  might  destroy 
all  government.  Unhappily,  neither  party  gave  the  other  credit  for 
honesty  or  patriotism ;  and  the  people,  in  the  heat  of  the  contest, 
were  well  nigh  driven,  in  blindness  and  in  rage,  on  the  bayonets  of 
each  other.  The  occasion,  however,  passed  away  without  serious  dif 
ficulty  ;  but  the  bitter  and  hostile  feelings  engendered  by  so  violent  a 
contest  still  remained,  and  were  ready  to  expand  themselves  with 
increased  fury  on  any  other  occasion  that  might  arise. 

In  the  mean  time  the  French  Revolution  had  made  rapid  pro 
gress.  When  the  news  of  that  event  was  first  wafted  across  the 
Atlantic,  it  was  hailed  with  acclamation  as  the  effort  of  a  great  nation 
to  shake  off  the  yoke  of  despotism,  and  to  assume  their  position 
among  people  with  a  free  and  enlightened  government.  The  events 
of  a  single  year  led  many  to  doubt  the  success  of  the  experiment, 
and  to  predict  that  the  whole  would  end  in  anarchy.  Among  the 
prophets  of  evil  omen  was  Edmund  Burke,  the  great  master  of 
political  philosophy.  We  have  already  seen  how  his  great  work  was 
seized  upon  by  the  Federalists  as  the  ablest  expounder  of  their 
general  doctrines,  and  of  their  views  in  particular  in  regard  to  the 
tendency  of  the  principles  of  the  French  Revolution.  This  was 
to  throw  the  other  party  to  the  other  extreme :  for  true  it  is  that  the 
great  masses  are  more  influenced  by  impulses  of  the  heart,  than  the 
judgments  of  the  understanding.  Paine's  "  Rights  of  Man  "  was  set 
forth  as  the  exponent  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Republicans.  Burke, 


JQ  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

in  his  spirit  of  conservatism,  pronounced  a  glowing  eulogy  on  the 
British  Constitution.  Paine  denounced  it  as  the  instrument  of  op 
pression  and  tyranny.  It  is  easy  to  perceive  the  bias  in  the  minds 
of  those  who  took  Burke  and  those  who  took  Paine  as  their  standard 
of  orthodoxy.  When  these  great  masters  wrote,  the  monarchy  in 
France  was  still  in  existence.  It  was  soon  overturned,  and  a  repub 
lic,  one  and  indivisible,  proclaimed  in  its  stead.  This  event,  more 
than  any  thing  that  had  transpired  before,  stirred  up  the  elements  of 
party-strife  in  the  United  States.  Free  and  republican  themselves, 
the  American  people  did  not  pause  on  the  horrors  that  were  perpe 
trated,  did  not  consider  the  consequences  of  the  doctrines  that  were 
brought  into  practice  by  the  rash  theorists  of  France ;  they  only  saw 
a  great  people,  taking  themselves  as  a  model,  struggling  for  their 
independence.  Their  sympathies  were  awakened,  and  all  their  feel 
ings  enlisted  in  behalf  of  the  republican  cause  in  France.  Those 
who  paused — those  who  suggested  a  doubt — were  denounced  as  ene 
mies  of  the  people.  The  deep  enthusiasm  of  a  free  people  in  favor 
of  those  who,  however  erroneous,  were,  like  themselves,  seeking  free 
dom,  did  more  than  any  other  cause  to  build  up  the  Republican  party 
in  America.  The  cautions  of  a  cold  judgment,  however  true,  cannot 
weigh  against  the  generous  impulses  of  a  warm  heart.  What  is  true 
of  individuals  in  this  particular,  is  ten  thousand  times  more  true  of 
the  multitude. 

But  the  elastic  spirit  of  freedom  could  not  be  restrained  within 
the  limits  of  France.  It  began  to  spread  to  other  kingdoms,  and  to 
alarm,  by  its  rapid  diffusion,  the  monarchs  of  Europe.  They  com 
bined  to  suppress  what  they  called  the  French  evil.  England  was  at 
the  head  of  the  coalition.  A  furious  war  commenced — a  desperate 
death-struggle  for  existence.  One  or  the  other  must  be  crushed  and 
destroyed.  Republicanism  and  monarchy  could  not  exist  together 
on  the  same  continent.  All  the  deep  passions  of  the  human  heart 
were  aroused — all  the  elements  of  destruction  brought  into  active 
operation.  It  was  a  war  of  Titans,  and  nature  groaned  under  the 
mighty  toils  of  her  warring  sons.  There  could  be  no  neutrality  in 
such  a  contest.  Their  wide-sweeping  arms  drew  in,  as  instruments 
or  agents  of  strife,  the  remotest  nations.  America,  though  remote, 
could  not  hope  to  escape. 

Her  position  was  too  conspicuous — her  example  in  producing  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  TIMES.  77 

present  state  of  tilings  in  France  too  well  known  for  her  to  escape. 
England  sought  to  drag  her  into  the  contest  on  the  side  of  the  allies. 
France  stretched  forth  her  arms  to  embrace  ber  ancient  ally,  and  to 
stand  by  her  side  on  the  hills  of  Ardenne  in  the  same  cause  that  had 
seen  them  side  by  side  on  the  plains  of  Yorktown. 

The  true  policy  of  the  United  States  was  to  pursue  a  line  of 
strict  neutrality.  In  accordance  with  the  unanimous  vote  of  his 
cabinet,  Thomas  Jefferson  at  the  head  as  Secretary  of  State,  General 
Washington  issued  his  proclamation,  April  22d,  1793,  declaring  that 
a  state  of  war  exists  between  Austria,  Prussia,  Sardinia,  Great  Britain, 
and  the  United  Netherlands,  on  the  one  part,  and  France  on  the  other ; 
and  that  the  duty  and  interest  of  the  United  States  require  that  they 
should  with  sincerity  and  good  faith  adopt  and  pursue  a  conduct 
friendly  and  impartial  toward  the  belligerent  powers.  The  citizens 
of  the  United  States  at  the  same  time  were  warned  carefully  to  avoid 
all  acts  and  proceedings  whatsoever,  which  might  in  any  manner  tend 
to  contravene  such  disposition.  It  was  impossible,  however,  to  repress 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  in  favor  of  the  French  cause.  When 
their  minister  landed  at  Charleston,  about  the  time  of  the  above 
proclamation,  he  was  marched  in  triumph  through  the  Southern 
States  and  principal  towns  to  the  capitol  at  Philadelphia.  Pre 
suming  on  certain  privileges  which  he  assumed  to  have  been  granted 
to  France  in  her  treaty  of  alliance  with  the  United  States,  1778, — 
emboldened  by  the  ardent  devotion  of  the  people  to  the  cause  of 
liberty,  so  eagerly  manifested  towards  himself  as  the  representative 
of  a  sister  republic,  he  soon  threw  off  all  restraint,  treated  the  gov 
ernment  with  contempt,  and  assumed  acts  of  sovereignty  not  only 
inconsistent  with  our  rights  of  neutrality,  but  our  existence  as  an 
independent  and  respectable  nation.  This  conduct  led  to  corres 
pondence,  remonstrance,  and  irritation  on  both  sides. 

Great  Britain  at  all  times  doubted  the  sincerity  of  our  declaration 
of  impartiality,  and  treated  with  the  utmost  contempt  our  rights  of 
neutrality.  Her  naval  officers  insulted  and  menaced  us  in  our  own 
ports — violated  our  national  rights,  by  searching  vessels  and  impress 
ing  seamen  within  our  acknowledged  jurisdiction,  and  in  an  outrage 
ous  manner  seizing  entire  crews  in  the  West  Indies,  and  other  parts 
of  the  world.  Her  licensed  privateers  committed  the  most  atrocious 
depredations  and  violences  on  our  commerce,  both  in  the  capture  and 


78  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

in  the  after-adjudication,  such  as  were  never  tolerated  in  any  well- 
organized  and  efficient  government.  The  Governor  of  Upper  Canada, 
in  an  official  and  formal  manner,  ordered  settlers  within  our  own 
territory,  and  far  removed  from  the  posts  they  had  unjustly  withheld 
from  us,  to  withdraw,  and  forbade  others  to  settle  on  the  same.  The 
persons  to  whom  their  Indian  affairs  were  intrusted  took  unusual 
pains  and  practised  every  deception  to  keep  those  people  in  a  temper 
of  hostility  towards  us. 

The  agents  sent  amongst  us,  as  with  a  design  to  insult  the  coun 
try,  were  ungracious  and  obnoxious  characters,  rancorous  refugees, 
who  retaining  all  their  former  enmity,  could  see  nothing  through  a 
proper  medium,  and  were  the  source  of  constant  misrepresentation 
and  falsehood.  The  government  were  encouraged  to  permit  all  ihese 
outrages,  because  they  were  told  there  was  a  British  party  in  Amer 
ica  that  would  not  suffer  the  country  to  be  involved  in  a  war  with 
England. 

France,  seeing  with  what  boldness  and  impunity  England  com 
mitted  her  depredations,  was  not  slow  in  doing  the  same.  She 
avowed  her  purpose,  and  fulfilled  it  to  the  letter,  of  treating  us  in  the 
same  manner  we  permitted  her  enemies  to  treat  us.  Such  was  the 
deplorable  condition  of  things  within  one  year  from  the  proclamation 
of  neutrality.  As  the  last  resort,  willing  to  exhaust  all  the  means  of 
conciliation  before  a  declaration  of  war,  the  administration,  on  the 
19th  of  April,  1794,  commissioned  .John  Jay  as  minister  extraordi 
nary  to  the  court  of  London,  with  instructions  to  demand  redress  for 
our  grievances,  and  if  occasion  suited,  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  amity 
and  commerce.  A  few  weeks  thereafter,  the  28th  of  May,  James 
Monroe  was  sent  as  minister  plenipotentiary  to  the  French  govern 
ment,  with  similar  instructions.  The  occasion  was  most  favorable  for 
a  negotiation  with  England.  The  campaign  of  1793-4  proved  disas 
trous  to  the  allied  powers.  The  coalition  was  dissolved.  The  hot 
lava  fires  France  poured  forth  from  her  volcanic  bosom  consumed  her 
enemies.  The  star  of  the  republic  was  in  the  ascendant.  At  such  a 
moment  it  seemed  plain  to  the  ministry  that  it  would  not  do  to  break 
with  the  United  States.  If  they  should  drive  the  two  republics  into 
a  close  alliance,  events  had  already  proved  that  the  two  united  would 
be  invincible.  A  different  line  of  policy,  therefore,  must  be  pursued. 
Hence,  when  Mr.  Jay  arrived  at  the  Court  of  St.  James,  he  was  most 


HISTORY  OF  THE  TIMES.  79 

graciously  received.  Lord  Granville  was  all  conciliation  and  com 
promise.  He  had  not  been  engaged  in  the  business  of  negotiation 
many  days,  when  the  King — tough  old  George,  who  was  the  last  to 
surrender  in  the  Revolution — said  to  him,  "  Well,  sir,  I  imagine  you 
begin  to  see  that  your  mission  will  probably  be  successful."  u  I  am 
happy,  may  it  please  your  majesty,  to  find  that  you  entertain  that 
idea."  "  Well,  but  don't  you  perceive  that  it  is  likely  to  be  so  ?" 
"  There  are  some  recent  circumstances  (the  answer  to  Jay's  repre 
sentations)  which  induce  me  to  natter  myself  that  it  will  be  so." 
The  king  nodded  with  a  smile,  signifying  that  it  was  to  those  circum 
stances  that  he  alluded.  It  was  a  foregone  conclusion.  Peace  with 
the  United  States  had  now  become  essential  to  England :  and  that 
wise  nation  never  stands  on  trifles  when  an  important  object  is  to  be 
attained. 

Never  did  negotiator,  beginning  with  such  anxious  forebodings, 
find  himself  proceeding  so  smoothly,  so  satisfactorily.  The  treaty 
was  concluded  and  signed  in  London,  on  the  19th  of  November,  1794 ; 
was  received  by  the  President  the  7th  of  March  following,  and  on  the 
8th  of  June  was  submitted  to  the  Senate  for  their  consideration.  On 
the  24th,  by  precisely  a  constitutional  majority,  they  advised  and  con 
sented  to  its  ratification.  Although  in  the  mind  of  the  President 
several  objections  had  occurred,  they  were  overbalanced  by  what  he 
conceived  to  be  its  advantages  ;  and  before  transmitting  it  to  the 
Senate  he  had  resolved  to  ratify  it,  if  approved  by  that  body.  But 
before  he  had  given  his  signature  to  the  treaty,  it  was  well  ascer 
tained  that  the  British  order  in  council  of  the  8th  of  June,  1793,  for 
the  seizure  of  provisions  going  to  French  ports,  had  been  renewed. 
Apprehensive  that  this  might  be  regarded  as  a  practical  interpreta 
tion  of  an  article  in  the  treaty  in  regard  to  provisions  not  being  con 
traband  of  war  unless  in  particular  cases,  the  President  wisely 
determined  to  reconsider  his  decision.  Marshall,  in  his  Life  of 
Washington,  says  :  "  Of  the  result  of  this  reconsideration  there  is 
no  conclusive  testimony."  It  has  become  a  matter  of  importance  in 
history  to  determine  this  fact. 

It  was  charged  that  a  war  with  France,  and  a  consequent  alliance 
with  England,  had  been  the  object  of  the  executive  council,  from  the 
commencement  of  hostilities  between  those  two  great  European  pow 
ers.  The  treaty,  it  was  alleged,  originated  in  that  spirit.  And  the 


80  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

circumstances  and  manner  of  its  consummation  were  confidently  al 
luded  to  as  evidence  of  that  fact.  It  was  well  known  that  the  Presi 
dent  made  up  his  judgment  with  great  deliberation  ;  and  that  when 
once  fixed  he  was  unalterable  ;  lie  had  an  invincible  repugnance  to 
retract  an  opinion,  or  retrace  a  step  once  taken. 

While  he  was  deliberating  on  the  treaty — when  in  fact,  as  it 
was  alleged,  he  had  determined  not  to  sign  for  the  present,  an  inter 
cepted  letter  addressed  by  the  French  minister  to  his  government, 
was  placed  in  the  President's  hands.  This  letter  contained  many 
facts  bearing  on  the  character  of  the  President,  the  influences  that 
were  working  on  him,  and  deeply  implicating  the  reputation  of  the 
Secretary  of  State.  It  was  alleged  that  the  other  Secretaries,  into 
whose  hands  the  letter  had  fallen,  made  an  unwarrantable  use  of  it 
to  prejudice  the  mind  of  the  President  against  their  obnoxious  col 
league  and  the  French  cause,  and  thereby  to  induce  him  hastily  to 
ratify  the  treaty  contrary  to  his  better  judgment — to  drive  from  his 
cabinet  the  only  republican  remaining  in  office,  and  to  lend  his  aid, 
though  unconsciously  and  indirectly,  to  the  destruction  of  the  repub 
lican  cause  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Jefferson  retired  from  the  State  Department  in  1794,  early 
in  January.  He  says  that  he  suffered  martyrdom  all  the  time  he 
was  in  office — alluding  to  his  single-handed  and  unaided  efforts  to 
combat  the  heresies  of  Hamilton,  and  to  resist  the  tendencies  of  the 
government  to  yield  to  British  influence.  He  was  succeeded  by  the 
Attorney  General,  Edmund  Randolph,  whose  relationship  to  the 
subject  of  this  memoir  has  already  been  made  known  to  the  reader. 
That  gentleman  professed  to  be  of  no  party,  but  was  understood  to 
be  a  Republican  in  principle,  and  favorably  inclined  to  the  French 
cause.  "  The  fact  is,"  says  Jefferson,  "  he  has  generally  given  his 
principles  to  the  one  party,  and  his  practice  to  the  other — the  oyster 
to  one,  the  shell  to  the  other.  Unfortunately,  the  shell  was  generally 
the  lot  of  his  friends,  the  French  and  Republicans,  and  the  oyster,  of 
their  antagonists.  Had  he  been  firm  to  the  principles  he  professed, 
in  the  year  1793,  the  President  would  have  been  kept  from  an  habit 
ual  concert  with  the  British  and  anti-republican  party." 

Randolph  declared  that  long  before  the  Fauchet  letter  made  its 
appearance,  the  British  partizans  had  been  industrious  in  dissemi 
nating  the  most  poisonous  falsehoods  concerning  him,  and  in  his 


HISTORY  OF  THE  TIMES.  gl 

aosence  seized  the  advantage  of  uttering  uncontradicted  slanders  ; 
boasting  and  insisting  that  in  a  controversy  between  them,  he  (Ran 
dolph)  must  be  sacrificed.  Hamilton  had  retired,  but  was  in  con 
stant  communication  with  the  President  on  all  subjects  of  importance. 
The  British  partisans  alluded  to,  were  Pickering  and  Wolcott,  the 
Secretary  of  "War  and  of  the  Treasury. 

With  these  facts  before  us  we  can  now  proceed  with  the  subject  in 
hand.  We  have  said  that  the  President  had  determined  to  ratify  the 
treaty,  if  so  advised  by  the  Senate.  But  soon  after  their  adjourn 
ment  he  became  satisfied  that  the  provision  order,  as  it  was  called, 
had  been  renewed  by  the  British  government.  He  then  began  to 
balance  whether  to  ratify  or  not.  In  this  state  of  mind,  he  required 
the  Secretary  of  State  to  hold  a  conversation  with  the  British  Minis 
ter  on  the  29th  June,  1795,  and  to  tell  him  that  by  the  constitution 
the  treaty  now  rested  with  the  President,  and  that  he  had  entered 
into  the  consideration  of  the  subject.  A  letter  was  written  to  the 
American  Minister  at  Paris,  on  the  2d  of  July,  under  the  President's 
eye  and  special  correction,  in  which  it  was  stated  that  the  "  President 
has  not  yet  decided  upon  the  final  measure  to  be  adopted  by  himself." 
He  consulted  with  all  the  officers  of  government  on  several  collateral 
points  in  the  treaty — consulted,  as  it  was  believed,  with  Hamilton  on 
the  treaty  at  large — and  required  the  Secretary  of  State  to  give  his 
written  opinion.  This  opinion  of  the  Secretary  was  handed  in  the 
12th  of  July,  1795.  Among  other  things,  he  says  :  "  I  take  the 
liberty  of  suggesting  that  a  personal  interview  be  immediately  had 
between  the  Secretary  of  State  and  Mr.  Hammond,  and  that  the  sub 
stance  of  the  address  to  him  be  this  " — (after  some  preliminary  re 
marks)  :  "  But  we  are  informed  by  the  public  gazettes,  and  by  letters 
tolerably  authentic,  that  vessels,  even  American  vessels,  laden  with 
provisions  for  France,  may  be  captured  and  dealt  with  as  carrying  a 
kind  of  contraband.  Upon  the  supposition  of  its  truth,  the  President 
cannot  persuade  himself' that  he  ought  to  ratify  during  the  existence 
of  the  order.  His  reasons  will  be  detailed  in  a  proper  representation 
through  you  (Mr.  Hammond)  to  his  Britannic  Majesty.  At  the 
game  time,  that  order  being  removed,  he  will  ratify  without  delay  or 
further  scruple."  In  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  July,  the  President 
instructed  the  Secretary  to  have  the  proposed  interview  immediately 
with  Mr.  Hammond,  and  to  address  him  as  had  been  suggested. 

VOL.  i.  4* 


32  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

Mr.  Hammond  asked,  in  the  course  of  the  interview,  if  it  would 
not  be  sufficient  to  remove  the  order  out  of  the  way  ;  and  after  the 
ratification  to  rescind  it? 

The  Secretary  replied  with  some  warmth,  that  this  would  be  a 
mere  shift,  as  the  principle  was  the  important  thing.  He  then  asked, 
if  the  President  was  irrevocably  determined,  not  to  ratify,  if  the  pro 
vision  order  was  not  removed  ?  The  Secretary  answered,  that  he 
was  not  instructed  upon  that  point.  This  conversation  was  imme 
diately  related  to  the  President.  He  told  the  Secretary  that  he  might 
have  informed  Mr.  Hammond  that  he  never  would  ratify,  if  the  pro 
vision  order  was  'not  removed  out  of  the  way. 

The  President  left  Philadelphia  for  Mount  Vernon,  the  15th  day 
of  July,  1795  ;  and  soon  afterwards,  the  Secretary  commenced  draft 
ing  the  memorial  that  was  to  be  addressed  to  his  Britannic  Majesty. 
After  discussing  the  article  of  the  treaty  in  reference  to  provisions. 
and  showing  the  inconsistency  of  the  order  of  the  8th  of  June,  1793, 
with  that  article,  the  memorial  concludes  :  "  The  chief  obstacle,  which 
is  dependent  for  its  removal  on  his  Britannic  Majesty,  is  the  order 
above  stated.  The  President  is  too  much  deprived  of  its  particulars, 
to  declare  what  shall  be  his  irrevocable  determination :  but  the  sen 
sibility  which  it  has  excited  in  his  mind,  cannot  be  allayed  without 
the  most  unequivocal  stipulation,  to  reduce  to  the  only  construction 
in  which  he  can  acquiesce,  the  article  of  the  treaty." 

Before  the  President  had  received  the  memorial  which  he  had 
ordered  to  be  drafted,  he  wrote  to  the  Secretary  on  the  22d  July, 
from  Mount  Vernon,  thus  :  "  In  my  hurry  I  did  not  signify  the  pro 
priety  of  letting  those  gentlemen  (the  Secretaries  of  War  and  the 
Treasury,  and  the  Attorney  General)  know  fully  my  determination 
with  respect  to  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  and  the  train  it  was  in  ; 
but  as  this  was  necessary,  in  order  to  enable  them  to  form  their  opin 
ions  on  the  subject  submitted,  I  take  it  for  granted,  that  both  were 
communicated  to  them  by  you,  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  first,  that 
is  the  conditional  ratification,  (if  the  late  order,  which  we  have  heard 
of  respecting  provision-vessels,  is  not  in  operation,)  may  on  all  fit  oc 
casions  be  spoken  of  as  my  determination,  unless  from  any  thing 
you  have  heard,  or  met  with  since  I  left  the  city,  it  should  be  thought 
more  advisable  to  communicate  with  me  on  the  subject.  My  opinion 
respecting  the  treaty  is  the  same  now  that  it  was ;  that  is,  not  favor- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  TIMES.  33 

able  to  it  ;  but  that  it  is  better  to  ratify  it  in  the  manner  the  Senate 
have  advised,  (and  with  the  reservation  already  mentioned^  than  to 
suffer  matters  to  remain  as  they  are — unsettled." 

In  answer  to  this  the  Secretary  writes :  "  I  had  communicated 
fully  your  determination  with  respect  to  the  ratification.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  the  order  for  seizing  provision-vessels  exists.  Nothing 
has  occurred  to  prevent  the  speaking  of  that  determination." 

On  the  29th  July  the  President  writes :  "  I  also  return,  under 
cover  of  this  letter,  the  draft  of  the  memorial,  and  the  rough  draft 
of  a  ratification.  These  are  very  important  papers,  and,  with  the 
instructions  which  follow,  will  require  great  attention  and  considera 
tion,  and  are  the  primary  cause  of  my  returning  to  Philadelphia." 

On  the  31st  he  writes  :  "  The  memorial  seems  well  designed  to 
answer  the  end  proposed." 

While  the  memorial  was  in  the  hands  of  the  President  at  Mount 
Vernon,  it  became  the  subject  of  conversation  with  the  Heads  of 
Departments.  Wolcott  and  Pickering  were  both  opposed  to  any  de 
lay  in  concluding  the  business.  Wolcott  observed  that  it  would  give 
the  French  Government  an  opportunity  of  professing  to  make  very 
extensive  overtures  to  the  United  States,  and  thus  embarrass  the 
treaty  with  Great  Britain. 

Pickering,  on  hearing  the  memorial,  exclaimed,  "  This,  as  the 
sailors  say,  is  throwing  the  whole  up  in  the  wind." 

The  President  returned  to  Philadelphia  on  the  llth  of  August. 
The  same  evening,  in  presence  of  Pickering  and  Bradford,  the  Se 
cretary  of  State  observed,  "  that  the  sooner  the  memorial  was  re 
vised  by  the  gentlemen  jointly,  who  were  prepared  with  their  opin 
ions,  the  better."  The  President  replied,  "  that  he  supposed  every 
thing  of  this  sort  had  been  settled.  The  Secretary  said  that  it  was 
not  so,  as  Colonel  Pickering  was  for  an  immediate  ratification.  To 
this  Pickering  responded :  "  I  told  Mr.  Randolph  that  I  thought  the 
postponement  of  ratification  was  a  ruinous  step." 

On  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  August,  the  letters  which  had 
been  written  to  foreign  ministers  in  his  absence,  were  laid  before  the 
President.  The  one  addressed  to  Mr.  Monroe  was  in  these  words : 
— "  The  treaty  is  not  yet  ratified  by  the  President ;  nor  will  it  be 
ratified,  I  believe,  until  it  returns  from  England — if  then.  The  late 
British  order  for  seizing  provisions,  is  a  weighty  obstacle  to  a  ratifi- 


84  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

cation.  I  do  not  suppose  that  such  an  attempt  to  starve  France  will 
be  countenanced."  Other  letters  were  written  of  the  same  tenor,  and 
laid  before  the  President.  He  made  no  objection  to  the  strong  ex 
pressions  contained  in  them. 

There  can  be  no  question  from  the  evidence,  that  up  to  the  13th 
of  August,  1795,  and  fora  month  previous,  the  President  had  deli 
berately  made  up  his  mind  not  to  sign  the  treaty  so  long  as  the  pro 
vision  order  was  in  existence.  What  caused  the  great  change  be 
tween  that  time  and  the  18th  ;  for  on  that  day  he  gave  to  the  treaty 
an  unconditional  ratification  ?  Marshall,  in  his  Life  of  Washington, 
intimates,  that  the  great  clamor  raised  against  the  treaty  in  the  com 
mercial  towns,  was  the  cause  of  this  change  in  the  mind  of  the  Presi 
dent.  He  thought  that  by  signing  the  treaty  at  once  he  would  put 
an  end  to  all  hope  of  influencing  the  executive  will  by  agitation. 
This  solution  is  not  consistent  with  the  character  of  the  man.  No 
one  despised  mere  popular  clamor  more  than  he  did  ;  no  one  valued 
more  the  opinion  of  his  fellow-citizens.  With  a  mind  not  suggestive 
but  eminently  judicious,  he  sought  for  counsel  in  all  quarters,  and 
profited  more  by  advice  than  any  other  man  that  ever  held  a  public 
station. 

He  considered  that  the  occasion  called  for  wise  and  temperate 
measures.  In  his  letter  of  the  31st  of  July,  to  the  Secretary  of 
State,  he  says :  "  In  time,  when  passion  shall  have  yielded  to  sober 
reason,  the  current  may  possibly  turn ;  but  in  the  mean  while,  this 
Government,  in  relation  to  France  and  England,  may  be  compared  to 
a  ship  between  the  rocks  Scylla  and  Charybdis.  If  the  treaty  is  ra 
tified,  the  partisans  of  the  French  (or  rather  of  war  and  confusion) 
will  excite  them  to  hostile  measures,  or  at  least  to  unfriendly  senti 
ments  :  if  it  is  not,  there  is  no  foreseeing  all  the  consequences  which 
may  follow,  as  it  respects  Great  Britain.  It  is  not  to  be  inferred 
from  hence,  that  I  am,  or  shall  be  disposed  to  quit  the  ground  I 
have  taken,  unless  circumstances  more  imperious  than  have  yet  come  to 
my  knowledge,  should  compel  it ;  for  there  is  but  one  straight  course 
in  these  things,  and  that  is,  to  seek  truth  and  pursue  it  steadily." 
He  then  instructs  the  Secretary  to  be  attentive  to  all  the  resolutions 
that  might  come  in,  and  to  all  the  newspaper  publications,  that  he 
might  have  all  the  objections  against  the  treaty  which  had  any 
weight  in  them,  embodied  in  the  memorial  addressed  to  the  British 


THE  FAUCHET  LETTER.  85 

king,  or  in  the  instructions  to  the  American  Minister  at  London.  It 
cannot  be  presumed,  therefore,  that  the  excitement  in  the  country 
against  the  treaty,  was  the  cause,  or  at  least  the  principal  cause  of 
the  sudden  change  in  the  determination  of  the  President.  We  must 
look  to  some  other  source  for  a  solution  of  this  difficulty. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE   FAUCHET   LETTEK. 

ON  the  31st  day  of  October,  1794,  about  the  time  of  the  wh.sky  in 
surrection,  and  Jay's  negotiation  in  London,  the  French  Minister 
forwarded  a  dispatch  to  his  government,  entitled  "  Private  Corres 
pondence  of  the  Minister  on  Politics,  No.  10." 

This  letter  on  its  way  was  captured  by  a  British  cruiser,  placed  in 
the  hands  of  Lord  Grenville,  and  by  him  forwarded  to  the  Minister 
here  (Mr.  Hammond),  with  instructions  to  use  it  for  the  benefit  of 
his  Majesty's  service.  When  the  letter  came  to  Hammond,  he  made 
known  the  contents  to  Mr.  Wolcott,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  but 
did  not  intimate  a  desire  that  it  might  be  communicated  to  the  Pre 
sident.  Wolcott  himself  suggested  it,  and  asked  that  it  might  be 
placed  in  his  hands  for  that  purpose.  Hammond  at  first  declined, 
but  finally  consented,  on  condition  that  a  certified  copy  should  be 
left  in  his  hands.  Wolcott  received  the  letter  the  28th  day  of  July, 
1795,  while  the  President  was  at  Mount  Vernon.  He  immediately 
showed  it  to  Mr.  Pickering.  It  was  their  opinion  that  its  contents 
were  of  so  delicate  and  important  a  nature  that  they  ought  to  be  im 
parted  to  the  President  without  delay,  and  with  the,  utmost  secrecy. 
Any  open  attempt  to  effect  this  end,  they  thought  might  excite  the 
suspicion  of  Mr.  Randolph.  The  first  hint  of  the  matter  was  com 
municated  to  the  President  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Pickering  in  the 
following  words :  "  July  31st — On  the  subject  of  the  treaty,  I  confess 
I  feel  extreme  solicitude,  and,/br  a  special  reason,  which  can  be  com 
municated  to  you  only  in  person.  I  entreat,  therefore,  that  you  will 
return  with  all  convenient  speed  to  the  seat  of  government.  In  the 


86  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

mean  time,  for  the  reason  above  referred  to,  I  pray  you  to  decide  on 
no  important  political  measure  in  whatever  form  it  may  be  presented 
to  you.  Mr.  Wolcott  and  I  (Mr.  Bradford  concurring)  waited  on 
Mr.  Randolph,  and  urged  his  writing  to  request  your  return.  He 
wrote  in  our  presence?"*  Just  the  day  before,  Randolph  had  written 
to  the  President — "  As  soon  as  I  had  the  honor  of  receiving  your 
letter  of  the  24th  instant,  I  conferred  with  the  Secretaries  of  the 
Treasury  and  of  War  upon  the  necessity  or  expediency  of  your  re 
turn  hither  at  this  time.  We  all  concurred  that  neither  the  one  nor 
the  other  existed,  and  that  the  circumstance  would  confer  upon  the 
things  which  had  been  and  are  still  carried  on,  an  importance  which 
it  would  not  be  convenient  to  give  them."  After  receiving  the  above 
mysterious  letter  from  Pickering,  which  perhaps  arrived  the  same 
day  with  Randolph's,  the  President  hastened  to  the  seat  of  govern 
ment.  He  arrived  on  the  llth  of  August,  and  the  contents  of 
Fauchet's  intercepted  letter  were  made  known  to  him  the  same  day. 
In  this  private  correspondence,  after  stating  that  the  dispatches  of 
himself  and  colleagues  had  been  confined  to  a  naked  recital  of  facts, 
the  Minister  thus  proceeds : — "  I  have  reserved  myself  to  give  you, 
as  far  as  I  am  able,  a  key  to  the  facts  detailed  in  our  reports.  *  *  * 
The  previous  confessions  of  Mr.  Randolph  alone  throw  a  satisfactory 
light  upon  every  thing  that  comes  to  pass.  *  *  *  I  shall,  then,  en 
deavor  to  give  you  a  clue  to  all  the  measures,  of  which  the  common 
dispatches  give  you  an  account ;  and  to  discover  the  true  causes  of 
the  explosion,  which  it  is  obstinately  resolved  to  repress  with  great 
means  (the  whisky  insurrection),  although  the  state  of  things  has 
no  longer  any  thing  alarming."  *  *  *  He  then  undertakes  to  give  a 
history  of  the  primitive  division  of  parties — Federalists  and  Anti- 
Federalists.  Speaks  of  the  whimsical  contrast  between  the  name 
and  the  real  opinion  of  the  parties — the  former  aiming  with  all  their 
power  to  annihilate  Federalism,  while  the  latter  were  striving  to 
preserve  it.  These  divisions,  he  proceeds  to  say,  originated  in  the 
system  of  finances,  which  had  its  birth  in  the  cradle  of  the  consti 
tution.  It  created  a  financiering  class,  who  threaten  to  become  the 
aristocratical  order  of  the  State.  -He  then  continues,  in  the  fifth 
paragraph,  in  these  words :  "  It  is  useless  to  stop  longer  to  prove 
that  the  monarchical  system  was  interwoven  with  those  novelties  of 
finance,  and  that  the  friends  of  the  latter  favored  the  attempts  which 


THE  FAUCHET  LETTER.  37 

were  made,  in  order  to  bring  the  constitution  to  the  former  by  in 
sensible  gradations.  The  writings  of  influential  men  of  this  party 
prove  it  (alluding  to  Mr.  Adams's  Discourses  on  Davila) ;  their  real 
opinions,  too,  avow  it,  and  the  journals  of  the  Senate  are  the  deposi 
tory  of  the  first  attempts." 

He  speaks  of  the  sympathy  of  this  party  with  the  regenerating 
movements  of  France,  while  running  in  monarchical  paths  ;  and 
after  an  account  of  the  rapid  increase  and  consolidation  of  the  Anti- 
Federal  party,  under  the  name  of  patriots  and  republicans,  he  thus 
proceeds : — "  In  every  quarter  are  arraigned  the  imbecility  of  the 
Government  towards  Great  Britain,  the  defenceless  state  of  the 
country  against  possible  invasions,  the  coldness  towards  the  French 
Republic — the  system  of  finance  is  attacked,  which  threatens  eternizing 
the  debt,  under  pretext  of  making  it  the  guarantee  of  public  happi 
ness  ;  the  complication  of  that  system  which  withholds  from  general 
inspection  all  its  operations — the  alarming  power  of  the  influence  it 
procures  to  a  man  whose  principles  are  regarded  as  dangerous — the 
preponderance  which  that  man  acquires  from  day  to  day  in  public 
measures,  and,  in  a  word,  the  immoral  and  impolitic  modes  of  taxa 
tion  which  he  at  first  presents  as  expedients,  and  afterwards  raises 
to  permanency." 

He  then  speaks  of  the  excise  law — the  navigation  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  and  the  system  for  the  sale  of  public  lands,  as  being  the 
principal  sources  of  discontent  to  the  Western  people,  and  the  cause 
of  their  rebellion.  "  At  last,"  says  he,  "  the  local  explosion  is 
effected.  *  *  *  The  Government  which  had  foreseen  it,  reproduced, 
under  various  forms,  the  demand  of  a  disposable  force  which  might 
put  it  in  a  state  of  respectable  defence.  Defeated  in  this  measure, 
who  can  aver  that  it  may  not  have  hastened  the  local  eruption,  in 
order  to  make  an  advantageous  diversion,  and  to  lay  the  more  gene 
ral  storm  which  it  saw  gathering  ?  Am  I  not  authorized  in  forming 
this  conjecture  from  the  conversation  which  the  Secretary  of  State 
had  with  me  and  Le  Blanc,  above,  an  account  of  which  you  have 
in  my  dispatch,  No.  3  ?  But  how  may  we  expect  that  this  new  plan 
will  be  executed  ? — By  exasperating  and  severe  measures,  authorized 
by  a  law  which  was  not  solicited  till  the  close  of  the  session.  This 
law  gave  to  the  one  already  existing  for  collecting  the  excise,  a  coercive 
force  which  hitherto  it  had  not  possessed,  and  a  demand  of  which 


88  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

was  not  before  ventured  to  be  made.  *  *  *  *  This  was  undoubtedly 
what  Mr.  Randolph  meant  in  telling  me  that  under  pretext  of  giving 
energy  to  the  Government,  it  was  intended  to  introduce  absolute 
power,  and  to  mislead  tJie  President  in  paths  which  would  conduct 
him  to  unpopularity" 

He  then  proceeds  to  describe  the  successful  efforts  to  raise  an 
army,  and  to  gain  over  certain  influential  characters,  and  continues 
thus  :  "The  Secretary  of  this  State  possessed  great  influence  in  the 
popular  societies  of  Philadelphia,  which  in  its  turn  influenced  those 
of  other  States  •  of  course  he  merited  attention.  It  appears,  therefore, 
that  those  men,  with  others  unknown  to  me,  all  having,  without  doubt, 
Randolph  at  their  head,  were  balancing  to  decide  on  this  party.  Two 
or  three  days  before  the  proclamation  was  published  (in  reference  to 
the  whisky  insurrection  25th  September,  1794),  and  of  course  before 
the  cabinet  had  resolved  on  its  measures,  Mr.  Randolph  came  to  see  me 
with  an  air  of  great  eagerness,  and  made  to  me  the  overtures  of  which 
I  have  given  you  an  account  in  my  No.  6.  Thus,  with  some  thou 
sands  of  dollars,  the  republic  would  have  decided  on  civil  war,  or  on 
peace.  Thus  the  consciences  of  the  pretended  patriots  of  America 
have  already  their  prices.  *  *  *  What  will  be  the  old  age  of  this 
Government  if  it  is  thus  early  decrepit.  Such,  citizen,  is  the  evident 
consequence  of  the  system  of  finances  conceived  by  Mr.  Hamilton. 
He  has  made  of  a  whole  nation,  a  stock-jobbing,  speculating,  selfish 
people.  *  *  *  *  Still,  there  are  patriots  of  whom  I  delight  to  enter 
tain  an  idea  worthy  of  that  imposing  title.  Consult  Monroe — he  is 
of  this  number;  he  had  apprised  me  of  the  men  whom  the  current  of 
events  had  dragged  along  as  bodies  devoid  of  weight.  His  friend 
Madison  is  also  an  honest  man.  Jefferson,  on  whom  the  patriots 
cast  their  eyes  to  succeed  the  President,  had  foreseen  these  crises. 
He  prudently  retired,  in  order  to  avoid  making  a  figure  against  his 
inclination  in  scenes,  the  secret  of  which  will  soon  or  late  be  brought 
to  light." 

These  are  the  leading  and  essential  facts  in  the  intercepted  letter. 
And  they  certainly  contain  very  grave  charges.  The  men  in  power 
are  accused  of  a  design  of  changing  the  government  into  a  monarchy  ; 
clothing  the  President  with  absolute  power,  and  fomenting  a  rebel 
lion,  that  they  might  have  a  pretext  to  raise  a  standing  army  to 
enforce  their  designs.  The  pretended  patriots  of  the  country  are 


THE  FAUCHET  LETTER.  89 

accused  of  venality  and  corruption — the  highest  officer  under  Govern 
ment  charged  with  making  overtures  to  the  minister  of  a  foreign 
power  for  money ;  and  it  is  alleged  that  none  but  those  who  are  op 
posed  to  the  Administration  are  trustworthy  and  honest. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  a  communication  of  this  sort,  addressed 
by  a  foreign  minister  to  his  Government,  whose  feeling  of  friendship 
to  our  own  was  extremely  questionable,  falling  into  the  hands  of  one 
of  the  parties  implicated,  should  excite  his  indignation  and  create  in 
him  a  desire  to  have  the  truth  of  the  charges  investigated.  But  the 
use  made  of  that  letter  by  the  triumvirate,  Wolcott,  Pickering,  and 
Bradford,  to  destroy  an  obnoxious  rival  and  to  crush  the  rising  ener 
gies  of  a  hateful  party,  cannot  be  justified.  The  wicked  and  Jesuiti 
cal  doctrine,  that  all  is  fair  in  politics,  may  sanction  the  means  in 
the  end ;  but  the  pen  of  the  historian  must  condemn,  under  all  cir 
cumstances,  both  the  principle  and  its  application.  Randolph  was  a 
colleague  of  those  men — held  the  highest  station  in  the  executive  de 
partment  of  Government — was  in  the  most  intimate  relations  with 
them,  holding  daily  and  hourly  communications  on  the  gravest  sub 
jects  of  state.  He  was  reputed  to  be  among  the  first  gentlemen  of 
his  age — possessed  a  high  reputation,  and  an  unblemished  character 
for  integrity  and  honor.  A  paper  falls  into  the  hands  of  his  intimate 
and  daily  associates,  written  by  an  ignorant  and  prejudiced  foreigner, 
in  which  this  man  is  charged  with  being  accessible  to  a  bribe.  What 
line  of  conduct  do  they  pursue  ?  It  seems  that  in  a  formal  dispatch 
of  the  foreign  minister,  No.  6,  the  facts  are  stated  from  which  he 
draws  his  injurious  inference.  Did  the  triumvirate  call  for  that  doc 
ument  so  obviously  necessary  as  a  means  of  explaining  the  injurious 
charges  ?  It  was  in  the  hands  of  the  same  individual  from  whom 
they  had  obtained  the  first  communication.  But  they  made  no  in 
quiry  for  it ;  did  not  seem  to  wish  to  know  that  the  means  of  expla 
nation  were  in  their  reach,  or  in  existence.  Did  they  communicate 
the  contents  of  the  letter  to  their  implicated  colleague,  that  he  might 
exculpate  himself  from  its  charges  ?  They  kept  it  a  profound  secret 
from  him — held  frequent  conclaves  over  it — considered  it  extremely 
important,  and  concluded  that  the  President  must  be  informed  of  it, 
but  in  the  most  secret  manner,  lest  the  implicated  person  might  take 
the  alarm.  They  even  go  to  him,  and  induce  him  in  their  presence 
to  write  to  the  President,  requesting  his  immediate  return  to  the  seat 


90  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

of  government.  Not  content  with  this,  one  of  the  party  writes  him 
self,  stating  that  he  is  very  solicitous  about  the  treaty,  and  for  a  spe 
cial  reason,  thus  connecting  the  fate  of  the  treaty  with  the  contents 
of  the  intercepted  letter.  Was  this  acting  fairly  towards  their  col 
league  ?  It  was  not  treating  him  even  as  a  gentleman.  Their  con 
duct  can  only  be  compared  to  that  of  a  bailiff  or  town  beadle,  who 
has  gotten  some  clue  on  a  suspected  character,  towards  whom  he 
must  act  with  the  utmost,  caution  and  secrecy,  lest  he  might  snuff 
suspicion  in  the  wind  and  take  to  flight. 

Nor  was  their  conduct  at  all  mitigated  by  the  return  of  the 
President.  They  beset  him  the  moment  of  his  arrival ;  the  inter 
cepted  letter  was  placed  in  his  hands  the  same  evening ;  a  cabinet 
council  was  called  the  next  morning  to  deliberate  on  the  treaty.  Not 
a  breath  was  uttered  to  Randolph  by  the  President,  that  he  was  sus 
pected  of  treachery  to  himself,  and  of  having  made  overtures  for  a 
bribe  to  betray  his  country.  On  the  contrary,  an  unusually  cordial 
manner  is  observed  towards  him.  He  is  called  on  to  give  his  opinion 
on  the  subject  of  ratification.  He  repeats  the  same  arguments  he 
had  used  before ;  he  contended  that  the  treaty  did  not  warrant  the 
provision  order,  and  that  the  President  could  not  sign  the  treaty  so 
long  as  the  order  existed  ;  because  we  had  already  acknowledged,  on 
the  7th  of  September,  1793,  that  a  permission  to  Great  Britain  to  ex 
ercise  such  a  power,  would  be  a  just  cause  of  war  to  France  ;  that  we 
should  be  inconsistent  in  our  discussions  with  the  French  minister  ; 
because  when  he  remonstrated  upon  the  extension  of  contraband  by 
the  treaty,  it  was  answered  that  we  did  not  alter  the  law  of  nations ; 
but  now  we  should  desert  what  was  contended  to  be  the  law  of  na 
tions,  in  two  letters  to  Mr.  Hammond ;  that  we  should  run  the  haz 
ard  of  a  war  with  France,  by  combining  to  starve  her ;  and  that  her 
discontents  were  the  only  possible  chance  remaining  to  the  British 
partisans  for  throwing  us  into  the  arms  of  Great  Britain,  by  creating 
a  seeming  necessity  of  an  alliance  with  the  latter  power.  These  co 
gent  arguments  had  already  been  urged  on  the  President ;  he  felt 
their  force,  and  had  determined,  as  the  reader  cannot  doubt,  not  to 
sign  so  long  as  the  provision  order  existed,  and  had  taken  his  mea 
sures  accordingly.  How  are  these  arguments  met  now  ?  Let  it  be 
remembered  that  on  the  morning  of  this  very  day,  it  was  circulated 
in  the  coffee-houses  by  Hammond,  the  British  minister,  and  his  par- 


THE  FAUCHET  LETTER.  91 

tisans,  that  Randolph  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  town  meetings  which 
had  been  gotten  up  to  denounce  the  treaty  (and  which  actually  burnt 
a  copy  of  the  treaty  in  front  of  Hammond's  house,  by  the  hands  of 
the  common  hangman),  and  that  there  was  a  conspiracy,  of  which 
Randolph  was  a  member,  to  destroy  the  popularity  of  the  President, 
and  to  thrust  Mr.  Jefferson  into  his  chair.  No  one  can  doubt  that 
these  rumors  designedly  put  afloat,  were  carefully  related  to  the 
President  by  his  faithful  and  disinterested  ministers,  so  that  when 
Randolph  concluded  his  speech,  the  very  arguments  that  had  weighed 
with  the  President  before,  were  now  evidences  of  his  guilt — con 
firmations  strong  as  proofs  of  Holy  Writ.  Pickering  and  Wolcott 
answered  in  the  most  excited  and  intemperate  manner ;  urged  the 
immediate  ratification  of  the  treaty,  and  charged  that  the  struggle  to 
defeat  it  was  the  act  of  a  detestable  and  nefarious  conspiracy.  There 
was  a  unanimous  vote  for  immediate  unconditional  ratification,  so 
far  as  the  provision  order  was  concerned ;  but  to  be  accompanied 
with  a  remonstrance  on  that  subject.  The  President  receded  from 
his  determination,  and  consented  to  ratify.  The  necessary  papers 
were  prepared,  and  on  the  18th  of  August,  1795,  the  President  affixed 
his  signature  to  the  treaty.  All  this  struck  the  Secretary  of  State 
with  astonishment.  He  did  not  know  how  to  account  for  it.  -All 
the  while  he  was  treated  with  unusual  courtesy.  Two  days  after  the 
President  had  determined  to  sign  the  treaty,  on  the  14th  of  the 
month,  he  paid  a  private  and  friendly  visit  to  Mr.  Randolph's  house  ; 
invited  him  next  day  in  the  most  cordial  manner  to  dine  with  a  party 
of  chosen  friends,  and  placed  him  at  the  foot  of  the  table  as  a  mark 
of  respect  and  confidence.  On  the  18th,  the  day  of  the  ratification, 
the  same  air  of  cordiality  was  assumed.  But  good,  easy  man,  while 
his  honors  were  thus  ripening,  next  day  there  came  a  nipping  frost. 
On  Wednesday,  the  19th  of  August,  1795,  while  going  to  the 
President's  at  the  usual  hour,  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  he  was 
met  by  the  steward,  who  informed  him  that  the  President  desired 
him  to  postpone  his  visit  till  half  past  ten.  On  reaching  the  door  at 
the  appointed  hour,  he  was  surprised  to  learn  that  the  President  had 
been  closeted  with  his  colleagues  for  more  than  an  hour.  On  enter 
ing  the  room,  the  President  rose  from  his  chair,  and  received  him 
with  marked  formality.  After  a  few  words,  the  President  drew  a 
letter  from,  his  pocket,  and  said :  "  Mr.  Randolph,  here  is  a  letter 


92  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

which  I  desire  you  to  read,  and  make  such  explanations  as  you 
choose." 

After  he  had  read  the  letter,  and  some  little  conversation  had  en 
sued,  the  President  requested  Messrs.  Wolcott  and  Pickering  to  in 
terrogate  him  !  In  a  short  time  he  was  requested  to  leave  the  room, 
that  they  might  consult  on  what  had  been  said  !  Can  the  reader  come 
to  any  other  conclusion,  than  that  the  mind  of  the  President  had 
been  worked  up  to  prejudge  the  case  ?  Can  any  one  believe  that  the 
great  and  good  Washington  would  have  acted  in  a  manner  so  precipi 
tate  in  itself,  so  injurious  and  humiliating  to  a  long  tried  friend,  and 
a  faithful,  confidential  officer,  unless  his  passions  had  been  excited 
by  some  undue  influence,  exerted  over  his  peculiar  temper  and  cha 
racter  ? 

Who  can  doubt,  after  a  review  of  all  the  facts  connected  with 
this  transaction,  that  Randolph,  as  he  declared  himself,  was  the  me 
ditated  victim  of  party  spirit  ?  Who  can  doubt  that  Wolcott  and 
Pickering,  by  their  artful  insinuations,  and  earnest  commentaries  on 
the  intercepted  letter,  had  induced  the  President  to  believe  that 
there  was  in  truth  a  detestable  and  nefarious  conspiracy  to  defeat 
the  treaty  ? — that  there  was  a  dark  design  of  replacing  him  by  an 
other  President ;  and  that  his  Secretary  of  State,  in  whom  he  had 
placed  the  most  unbounded  confidence,  had  been  convicted  of  a  cor 
rupt  attachment  to  France,  and  of  perfidy  to  himself.  The  more  we 
read  and  learn  of  Washington  and  his  acts,  the  more  exalted  our 
judgment  becomes  of  his  virtue  and  purity.  The  more  the  days  of 
his  mortality  recede  from  us,  the  more  sublime  and  godlike  his  cha 
racter  appears.  But  when  we  go  back  to  the  times  when  he  wrought 
on  earth  with  other  men,  and  performed  his  part  on  the  public  stage, 
we  perceive  that  he  had  like  passions  with  ourselves,  and  like  us, 
was  liable  to  err. 

The  ratification  of  such  a  treaty  would  at  any  time  have  created 
a  strong  hostility  to  the  administration  that  advised  it.  It  was  cer 
tainly  very  defective.  We  say  nothing  about  the  objections  raised 
against  it,  under  the  influence  of  the  party  excitement  of  the  times. 
Much  allowance  must  be  made  for  them ;  but  the  negotiator  himself 
admitted  that  the  subjects  of  difficulty  were  merged  in  the  treaty, 
but  not  settled.  Time  has  proved  the  truth  of  his  admission.  The 
late  war  with  Great  Britain — the  more  recent  difficulties  on  the 


THE  FAUCHET  LETTER.  93 

boundary  question,  all  grew  out  of  the  unsettled  questions  of  dispute 
merged  in  the  treaty.  It  was  evidently  made  for  a  temporary  pur 
pose — to  serve  the  nonce — and  perhaps  that  was  all  that  could  have 
been  expected.  The  President  did  not  approve  it.  The  more  he 
thought  of  it,  the  less  he  liked  it.  But  that  there  might  be  some  set 
tlement  of  the  perplexing  and  threatening  difficulties  between  the 
two  nations,  he  consented  to  ratify,  if  the  Senate  advised.  The  rati 
fication  of  such  a  treaty,  under  any  circumstances,  would  have  en 
countered  formidable  opposition.  But  when  it  was  made  known  that 
the  President,  under  the  influence  of  a  party  intrigue,  had  been  hur 
ried  into  a  premature  ratification,  contrary  to  his  better  judgment, 
with  the  British  order  in  council  staring  him  in  the  face,  which 
seemed  to  have  been  issued  in  contempt  of  the  treaty,  as  a  license  to 
plunder  our  defenceless  commerce,  the  storm  that  was  raised  cannot 
well  be  imagined.  The  great  Washington  rose  into  the  pure  empy 
rean  of  a  clear  conscience ;  but  the  guilty  beings  below  were  swept 
away  by  the  tempest.  All  who  had  any  thing  to  do  with  this  busi 
ness  were  treaty -foundered,  and  ingulfed  in  the  torrent  that  soon 
swept  over  the  land. 

It  was  predicted,  as  a  sequel  to  these  transactions,  that  Monroe 
would  be  recalled  from  Paris.  In  December,  1795,  only  three 
months  after  the  ratification,  Mr.  Jefferson  writes  :  "  I  should  not 
wonder  if  Monroe  were  to  be  recalled,  under  the  idea  of  his  being  of 
the  partisans  of  France,  whom  the  President  considers  as  the  parti 
sans  of  war  and  confusion,  in  his  letter  of  July  31st,  and  as  disposed 
to  excite  them  to  hostile  measures,  or  at  least  to  unfriendly  senti 
ments;  a  most  infatuated  blindness  to  the  true  character  of  the 
sentiments  entertained  in  favor  of  France."  Sure  enough,  the  sub 
ject  was  soon  made  the  theme  of  cabinet  consultation ;  and  on  the  2d 
day  of  July,  1 796,  it  was  resolved  to  recall  him.  "  We  think,"  said 
the  Heads  of  Department,  in  their  communication  to  the  President, 
"  the  great  interests  of  the  United  States  require  that  they  have  near 
the  French  government  some  faithful  organ  to  explain  their  real 
views,  and  to  ascertain  those  of  the  French.  Our  duty  obliges  us  to  be 
explicit.  Although  the  present  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  United 
States  at  Paris  has  been  amply  furnished  with  documents  to  explain 
the  views  and  conduct  of  the  United  States,  yet  his  own  letters  au 
thorize  us  to  say,  that  he  has  omitted  to  use  them,  and  thereby  ex- 


94  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

posed  the  United  States  to  all  tlie  mischiefs  which  would  flow  from 
jealousies  and  erroneous  conceptions  of  their  views  and  conduct. 
Whether  this  dangerous  omission  arose  from  such  an  attachment  to 
the  cause  of  France  as  rendered  him  too  little  mindful  of  the  inter 
ests  of  his  own  country,  or  from  mistaken  views  of  the  latter,  or  from 
any  other  cause,  the  evil  is  the  same."  After  speaking  of  his  confi 
dential  correspondence  with  the  notorious  enemies  of  the  whole  sys 
tem  of  government,  and  of  certain  anonymous  letters,  which  they  en 
tertained  no  doubt  were  written  with  the  privity  of  Mr.  Monroe,  they 
proceed :  "  The  anonymous  communications  from  officers  of  the 
United  States  in  a  foreign  country,  on  matters  of  a  public  nature, 
and  which  deeply  concern  the  interests  of  the  United  States  in  rela 
tion  to  that  foreign  country,  are  proofs  of  sinister  designs,  and  show 
that  the  public  interests  are  no  longer  safe  in  the  hands  of  such  men." 
On  the  8th  of  July,  from  Mount  Vernon,  the  President  invited 
Charles  Cotesworth  Pinkney,  of  Charleston,  to  succeed  Mr.  Monroe. 
In  his  private  and  confidential  letter  to  that  gentleman,  he  says : 
"  The  situation  of  affairs,  and  the  interests  of  this  country,  as  they 
relate  to  France,  render  it  indispensably  necessary,  that  a  faithful 
organ  near  that  Government,  able  and  willing  to  explain  its  views  and ! 
to  ascertain  those  of  France,  should  immediately  fill  the  place  of  our 
present  Minister  Plenipotentiary  at  Paris." 

From  this  period  not  a  friend  of  the  French  cause  remained  in 
the  administration  of  affairs.  Jefferson,  foreseeing  the  tendency  of 
events,  had  prudently  retired,  after  having  suffered  a  three  years' 
martyrdom.  Randolph  had  been  ignominiously  driven  from  the 
cabinet ;  and  Monroe  recalled,  not  only  with  the  charge  of  infidelity 
to  his  Government,  but  under  the  accusation  of  sinister  designs  against 
his  country. 

It  was  proclaimed  in  the  newspapers,  in  political  meetings,  on  the 
hustings,  every  where,  that  the  friends  of  liberty  are  for  an  intimate 
union  with  France.  The  partisans  of  slavery  prefer  an  alliance 
with  England.  On  the  other  hand,  the  President  had  declared  and 
acted  on  the  belief,  that  the  friends  of  France  were  the  partisans  of 
war  and  confusion.  "  A  most  infatuated  blindness,"  said  Jefferson, 
"  to  tJw  true  character  of  the  sentiments  entertained  in  favor  of 
France  /" . 

The  reader  cannot  mistake,  at  this  rate,  how  things  were  tending. 


MR.  MONROE.  95 

The  person  and  character  of  the  President  were  no  longer  respected. 
The  Republicans  were  resolved  that  theft  opponents  should  not  shel 
ter  themselves  behind  the  cegis  of  his  fame.  They  considered  that 
he  had  descended  into  the  arena  of  strife,  and  were  determined  that 
he  should  share  the  fate  of  other  combatants. 

Happily  for  him,  he  soon  sought  repose  in  voluntary  retirement. 
The  reins  of  government  fell  into  other  hands.  On  the  4th  of  March, 
1797,  this  pure  patriot  entered  the  shades  of  Mount  Vernon  with  in 
finitely  more  pleasure  than  he  had  ever  passed  the  threshold  into  the 
cabinet  of  power.  However  much  some  of  the  measures  of  his  admin 
istration  may  be  condemned,  his  own  motives  are  above  suspicion. 
If  ever  a  man  had  in  view  the  exaltation  of  the  character  of  his  own 
country,  impressing  on  it  a  pure  American  stamp,  free  from  all 
foreign  alloy,  he  had.  Whether  all  the  measures  advocated  by  him 
tended  to  that  end  is  another  question.  The  historian  must  not  be 
deterred  from  a  critical  examination  into  them  from  the  fear  of  tar 
nishing  his  great  name.  That  is  impossible  !  From  the  clouds  of 
party  it  has  come  out  all  the  brighter  for  the  mists  by  which  it  was 
temporarily  enveloped. 


CHAPTEE    XIX. 

ME.   MONROE — FRANCE — MR.  ADAMS  ELECTED   PRESIDENT. 

THE  charges  against  Mr.  Monroe  were  unjust,  and  his  recall  an  im 
politic  measure,  unless  the  Government  had  determined  not  to  send 
a  successor,  for  which  there  was  sufficient  reason.  Nothing  but  the 
intemperate  zeal  of  such  partisans  as  Pickering  and  Wolcott  could 
have  advised  the  course  pursued.  The  strangest  part  of  the  business 
is  that  General  Washington  should  have  yielded  so  completely  to 
their  views.  He  speaks  more  harshly,  if  possible,  than  they  do,  not 
only  of  Mr.  Monroe's  conduct,  but  of  his  motives.  He  charges  him 
with  misrepresenting  his  own  Government,  an  undue  condescension 
to  that  of  France,  and  alleges  that  he  was  promoting  the  views  of  a 
party  in  his  own  country,  that  were  obstructing  every  measure  of  the 


96  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

Administration,  and,  by  their  attachment  to  France,  were  hurrying 
it  (if  not  with  design,  at  least  in  its  consequences),  into  a  war  with 
Great  Britain,  in  order  to  favor  France.  He  further  charges  that 
this  French  party  had  brought  the  country  to  a  most  degraded  and 
humiliating  condition  ;  and  that  our  Minister  at  Paris  had  been  the 
principal  actor  in  its  accomplishment.  That  he  was  timid  in  his  de 
mands  of  justice,  and  over  zealous  in  his  efforts  to  conciliate  the 
French  people,  cannot  be  doubted.  But  he  had  a  most  difficult  part 
to  perform.  His  open  reception  by  the  National  Convention — the 
fraternal  embrace  in  the  midst  of  shouts  and  acclamation,  and  his  un 
reserved  declarations  of  attachment  to  the  French  cause,  were  not  at 
all  diplomatic.  The  people  of  Paris,  who  were  the  Government  in 
fact,  would  have  consented  to  no  other  kind  of  reception.  Fond  of 
exhibition  and  excitement  at  all  times,  they  could  not  let  an  occasion 
of  that  sort  pass  quietly  by  without  considering  that  they  had  cast  a 
slight  on  the  representative  of  a  sister  Republic.  At  the  same  time, 
the  whole  nation  were  thoroughly  impressed  with  the  belief  that  we 
owed  our  existence  to  them  ;  that  their  timely  alliance  had  sustained 
our  cause  against  the  arms  of  England,  and  their  powerful  influence 
in  negotiation  had  secured  our  Independence.  They  were  taught 
this  lesson  not  only  by  their  own  Government,  and  the  thousands  of 
Frenchmen  who  fought  in  our  armies,  but  they  were  taught  it  by  the 
statesmen  of  America,  her  orators,  her  poets,  her  historians,  and  all 
her  diplomatic  agents  abroad.  All  France  was  penetrated  with  a 
belief  that  we  owed  them  a  debt  of  gratitude  that  no  service  could 
repay.  Whether  right  or  wrong,  such  was  the  national  faith.  They 
were  now  engaged  in  a  war  with  the  very  nation  from  whose  tyran 
nous  oppression  they  had  plucked  us — their  own  hereditary  enemy 
of  a  thousand  years — a  war  destructive,  vindictive,  exterminating. 
So  soon,  therefore,  as  it  was  known  that  the  United  States  had  sent 
an  envoy  to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  England,  their  suspicions  were 
awakened.  They  doubted  the  sincerity  of  our  declarations  of  friend 
ship,  and  insisted  that  Mr.  Monroe  was  merely  sent  to  blind  and  lull 
them  into  repose,  while  the  real  design  was  a  close  alliance  with  their 
mortal  foe.  In  vain  did  the  Minister  declare  that  no  treaty  would 
be  made  with  England  that  would  affect  the  rights  of  France.  There 
is  no  reasoning  in  detail  with  the  multitude  ;  special  facts  make  but  a 
slight  impression,  they  are  governed  by  broad  and  universal  truths. 


FRANCE.  97 

It  was  impossible  to  persuade  the  French  mind  that  the  United 
States  meant  well  in  seeking  to  form  a  treaty  with  their  enemies, 
while  they  were  impressed  with  the  belief  that  they  owed  their  exist 
ence,  independence,  and  an  immense  debt  of  gratitude  to  France. 
Whenever  Mr.  Monroe  made  a  demand  for  the  redress  of  our  many 
grievances,  he  was  at  once  met  with  the  charge  of  ingratitude,  and 
was  threatened  with  the  displeasure  and  hostility  of  France,  if  the 
treaty  then  in  progress  at  London  should  be  consummated.  So  soon 
as  it  was  known  that  a  treaty  had  been  made,  and  that  it  had  been 
advised  by  the  Senate  and  ratified  by  the  President,  the  hostility  of 
the  French  Government  and  the  indignation  of  the  people  knew  no 
bounds.  The  harassing  decrees  of  Government,  the  depredations 
on  American  commerce,  the  atrocious  cruelties  committed  on  her 
seamen  and  citizens  were  worse  than  if  there  had  been  an  open  decla 
ration  of  war  ;  for  then  all  merchant  vessels  would  have  been  kept  at 
home.  It  was  declared  by  the  Government  that  these  things  were 
done  in  consequence  of  the  British  treaty.  They  now  began  to  draw 
a  distinction  between  the  Administration  and  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  They  imagined  that  a  large  majority  were  friendly  to  an 
alliance  with  France.  The  first  appeal  was  made  by  the  minister 
Adet,  in  the  autumn  of  1796,  with  a  view  of  influencing  the  presiden 
tial  election.  Mr.  Adams  was  considered  as  the  representative  of 
the  Administration,  or  English  party,  and  Mr  Jefferson  the  repre 
sentative  of  the  French  party.  The  next  occasion  on  which  this 
spirit  was  manifested  in  the  most  remarkable  degree,  was  in  the 
month  of  December,  1796,  by  the  Directory.  When  Mr.  Monroe 
presented  his  letters  of  recall,  and  the  letters  of  credence  of  General 
Pinckney,  who  the  reader  knows  had  been  appointed  to  succeed  him, 
he  was  told  that  the  Directory  would  not  acknowledge  nor  receive 
another  Minister  Plenipotentiary  from  the  United  States,  until  after 
the  redress  of  grievances  demanded  of  the  American  Government, 
and  which  the  French  Government  had  a  right  to  expect  from  it. 
He  was,  at  the  same  time,  told  that  this  determination  allowed  to 
subsist  between  the  French  Republic  and  the  American  people,  the 
affection  founded  upon  former  benefits  and  reciprocal  interests,  and 
that  he  himself  had  cultivated  this  affection  by  every  means  in  his 
power.  And  to  his  valedictory  address,  the  President  of  the  Execu 
tive  Directory  thus  replied  : — "  Mr.  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the 
VOL.  i.  5 


98  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

United  States  of  America,  by  presenting  to-day  your  letters  of  recall 
to  the  Executive  Directory,  you  give  to  Europe  a  very  strange  spec 
tacle.  France,  rich  in  her  liberty,  surrounded  by  a  train  of  victories, 
strong  in  the  esteem  of  her  allies,  will  not  abase  herself  by  calcula 
ting  the  consequences  of  the  condescension  of  the  American  Govern 
ment  to  the  suggestions  of  her  former  tyrants.  Moreover,  the  French 
Republic  hopes  that  the  successors  of  Columbus,  Raleigh,  and  Penn — 
always  proud  of  their  liberty — will  never  forget  that  they  oive  it  to 
France.  They  will  weigh  in  their  wisdom  the  magnanimous  benevo 
lence  of  the  French  people,  with  the  crafty  caresses  of  certain  perfidi 
ous  persons  who  meditate  bringing  them  back  to  their  former  slavery. 
Assure  the  good  American  people,  sir,  that,  like  them,  we  adore 
liberty  ;  that  they  will  always  have  our  esteem,  and  that  they  will 
find  in  the  French  people  republican  generosity,  which  knows  how 
to  grant  peace,  as  it  does  to  cause  its  sovereignty  to  be  respected." 

While  Mr.  Monroe  was  assured  that  he  had  combated  for  prin 
ciples,  had  known  the  true  interests  of  his  country,  and  that  they 
parted  from  him  with  regret,  General  Pinckney  was  treated  in  the 
most  disrespectful  manner.  In  no  manner  was  he  recognized  in  his 
official  capacity, — was  refused  the  usual  cards  of  hospitality  on  which 
his  personal  safety  depended,  and  like  an  ordinary  stranger,  was  .left 
wholly  to  the  regulations  of  the  Paris  police.  And  about  the  first  of 
February,  1797,  the  very  day  that  Bonaparte's  brilliant  termination 
of  the  Italian  campaigns  was  announced,  he  was  ordered  to  quit 
Paris,  and  to  pass  beyond  the  confines  of  France. 

The  news  of  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams  to  the  presidency,  arrived 
in  Paris  about  the  first  of  March.  This  filled  the  measure  of  hos 
tile  feelings  on  the  part  of  the  Directory  :  they  were  now  ready  for 
any  extremity.  The  unfriendly  sentiments  of  Mr.  Adams  were  well 
known  in  France ;  and  they  were  cordially  reciprocated.  Those 
feelings  began  to  develope  themselves  at  an  early  period.  And  it  is 
important  at  this  point  of  our  history,  that  the  reader  should  know 
their  origin. 

In  the  summer  of  1780  Mr.  Adams  was  in  Paris,  charged  with 
three  distinct  commissions  from  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation  : 
first,  to  take  a  share  in  any  future  negotiations  for  peace  5  second, 
to  conclude  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  Great  Britain ;  third,  to  're 
present  the  United  States  at  the  Court  of  London.  At  that  time 


FRANCE.  99 

there  was  not  the  slightest  prospect  of  peace.  Cornwallis  was 
marching  triumphantly  through  the  southern  provinces,  and  Eng 
land  jsjjs  in  high  hopes  of  subjugating  her  revolted  colonies.  At  this 
conjuncture,  Mr.  Adams  proposed  to  make  known  to  the  Court  of 
London  that  he  held  a  commission  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  commerce 
with  Great  Britain,  and  to  represent  the  United  States  at  the  Court 
of  London.  As  he  was  required  to  do,  he  consulted  the  Count  de 
Yergennes  on  the  subject.  That  nobleman,  the  Secretary  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  ridiculed  it  as  an  ill-timed  and  visionary  proposition.  *  To 
be  solicitous  about  a  treaty  of  commerce,  before  independence  was 
established,  he  thought  was  like  being  busy  about  furnishing  a  house 
before  the  foundation  was  laid.  He  told  Mr.  Adams  that  the  Bri 
tish  ministry  would  consider  the  communication  as  ridiculous,  and 
would  either  return  no  answer,  or  an  insolent  one. 

Mr.  Adams  still  insisted  on  the  propriety  of  his  course,  entered 
into  an  elaborate  argument  to  prove  it,  and  was  very  intemperate  in 
his  language  and  insinuations  as  to  the  motives  of  France,  and 
showed  an  overweening  desire  either  to  figure  himself  in  the  Court 
of  London,  or  to  form  a  close  commercial  alliance  with  England  as 
the  best  means  of  securing  independence  to  his  country.  He  evi 
dently  showed  no  disposition  to  rely  on  the  good  intentions  of  France 
in  the  business. 

The  Count  de  Yergennes  at  length  inclosed  a  copy  of  his  corre 
spondence  with  Mr.  Adams,  to  Dr.  Franklin,  accompanied  with  these 
remarks : — "  You  will  find,  I  think,  in  the  letters  of  that  plenipoten 
tiary,  opinions  and  a  tone  which  do  not  correspond  either  with  the 
manner  I  explained  myself  to  him,  or  with  the  intimate  connection 
which  subsists  between  the  king  and  the  United  States.  You  will 
make  that  use  of  these  pieces  which  your  prudence  shall  suggest. 
As  to  myself,  I  desire  that  you  will  transmit  them  to  Congress,  that 
they  may  know  the  line  of  conduct  which  Mr.  Adams  pursues  with 
regard  to  us,  and  that  they  may  judge  whether  he  is  endowed,  as 
Congress  no  doubt  desires,  with  that  conciliating  spirit  which  is  ne 
cessary  for  the  important  and  delicate  business  with  which  he  is  in 
trusted." 

The  communication  was  made  to  Congress  ;  and  that  body  re 
sponded  to  Mr.  Adams,  that  they  did  not  doubt  his  correspondence 
with  the  Count  de  Yergennes  flowed  from  his  zeal  and  assiduity  in 


100  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

the  service  of  his  country,  but  that  the  opinions  of  that  minister  were 
well-founded,  and  that  he  must  be  more  cautious  in  future.  Mr. 
Adams  never  forgot  or  forgave  this  insult  to  his  vanity  an<^elf-es- 
teem,  which  were  ruling  traits  in  his  character.  He  soon  left  for 
Holland,  where  he  remained  till  negotiations  for  peace  had  com 
menced  in  Paris,  in  November,  1782.  When  he  arrived  on  the 
scene  of  action,  Mr.  Jay  and  Dr.  Franklin,  two  of  the  associate  com 
missioners,  had  made  considerable  progress  in  the  negotiation.  The 
whole  matter  was  talked  over  to  him,  and  he  very  soon  .displayed  his 
suspicions  of  the  sincerity  and  motives  of  France.  In  his  correspond 
ence  he  thus  writes: — "Paris,  Nov.  1782.  When  I  speak  of  this 
(French)  Court,  I  know  not  that  any  other  minister  (Count  de  Ver- 
gennes)  is  included  than  that  of  Foreign  Alfairs.  A  whole  system  of 
policy  is  now  as  glaring  as  the  day,  which  perhaps  Congress  and  the 
people  of  America  have  little  suspicion  of.  The  evidence  now  results 
from  a  large  view  of  all  our  European  negotiations.  The  same  prin 
ciple  and  the  same  system  have  been  uniformly  pursued  from  the 
beginning  of  my  knowledge  in  Europe,  in  April,  1778,  to  this  hour. 
In  substance  it  has  been  this : — In  assistance  afforded  us  in  naval 
force  and  in  money,  to  keep  us  from  succumbing,  and  nothing  more  : 
To  prevent  us  from  ridding  ourselves  wholly  of  our  enemies,  and 
from  growing  rich  and  powerful :  To  prevent  us  from  obtaining  ac 
knowledgments  of  our  independence  by  other  foreign  powers,  and 
from  acquiring  consideration  in  Europe,  or  any  advantage  in  the 
peace,  but  what  is  expressly  stipulated  in  the  treaties :  To  deprive 
us  of  the  G-rand  Fishery,  the  Mississippi  river,  the  Western  lands, 
and  to  saddle  us  with  the  tories."  The  friends  of  Mr.  Adams  even 
went  so  far  as  to  say,  that  Dr.  Franklin  favored,  or  did  not  oppose 
the  designs  of  France  against  the  United  States  ;  and  that  it  was 
entirely  owing  to  the  firmness,  sagacity,  and  disinterestedness  of  Mr. 
Adams,  with  whom  Mr.  Jay  united,  that  we  had  obtained  those  im 
portant  advantages.  Dr.  Franklin,  in  allusion  to  this  subject,  says : 
"  He  (Mr.  Adams)  thinks  the  French  minister  one  of  the  greatest 
enemies  of  our  country ;  that  he  would  have  straitened  our  bounda 
ries,  to  prevent  the  growth  of  our  people  ;  contracted  our  fishery  to 
obstruct  the  increase  of  our  seamen ;  and  retained  the  royalists 
amongst  us,  to  keep  us  divided  ;  that  he  privately  opposed  all  our  ne 
gotiations  with  foreign  courts,  and  afforded  us,  during  the  war,  the  as- 


MR.  ADAMS  ELECTED  PRESIDENT.     _  1Q1 

sistance  we  received,  only  to  keep  it  alive,  that  we  might  be  so  much 
the  more  weakened  by  it ;  that  to  think  of  gratitude  to  France  is  the 
greatest  of  follies,  and  that  to  be  influenced  by  it  would  ruin  us.  He 
makes  no  secret  of  his  having  these  opinions — expresses  them  pub 
licly,  sometimes  in  presence  of  the  English  ministers,  and  speaks  of 
hundreds  of  instances,  which  he  could  produce  in  proof  of  them.  If 
I  were  not  convinced  of  the  real  inability  of  this  Court  to  furnish  the 
further  supplies  we  asked,  I  should  suspect  these  discourses  of  a  per 
son  in  his  station  might  have  influenced  the  refusal— (at  that  very 
moment,  the  king  of  France  had  postponed  his  own  creditors,  that  he 
might  furnish  means  to  sustain  the  credit  of  the  United  States  ;) — 
but  I  think  they  have  gone  no  further  than  to  occasion  a  suspicion, 
that  we  have  a  considerable  party  of  anti-  Galileans  in  America, 
who  are  not  tories,  and  consequently,  to  produce  some  doubts  of  the 
continuance  of  our  friendship.  As  such  doubts  may  hereafter  have 
a  bad  effect,  I  think  we  cannot  take  too  much  care  to  remove  them ; 
and  it  is,  therefore,  I  write  this  to  put  you  on  your  guard  (believ 
ing  it  my  duty,  though  I  know  I  hazard  by  it  a  mortal  enmity),  and 
to  caution  you  respecting  the  insinuations  of  this  gentleman  against 
this  Court,  and  the  instances  he  supposes  of  their  ill  will  to  us,  which 
I  take  to  be  as  imaginary  as  I  know  his  fancies  to  be,  that  Count  de 
Vergennes  and  myself  are  continually  plotting  against  him,  and  em 
ploying  the  news-writers  of  Europe  to  depreciate  his  character.  But 
as  Shakspeare  says,  "  Trifles  light  as  air,"  &c.  I  am  persuaded, 
however,  that  he  means  well  for  his  country,  is  always  an  honest 
man,  often  a  wise  one,  but  sometimes,  and  in  some  things,  absolutely 
out  of  his  senses." 

This  was  the  man  elected  President  of  the  United  States.  Such 
were  the  opinions  and  sentiments  entertained  by  him  in  regard  to 
France,  which  time  and  the  revolution  in  that  country  had  only  de 
veloped  and  strengthened. 

So  soon  as  this  election  was  known,  and  avowedly  in  consequence 
of  it,  the  Executive  Directory,  on  the  2d  of  March,  1797,  decreed 
that  the  treaty  concluded  on  the  sixth  of  February,  1778,  between 
France  and  the  United  States,  was  modified  of  full  right  by  that 
which  had  been  concluded  at  London  on  the  nineteenth  of  November, 
1794,  between  the  United  States  of  America  and  England;  and  in 
consequence  thereof,  decreed  further,  that  all  merchandise  of  the 


102  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

enemy's,  all  merchandise  not  sufficiently  ascertained  to  be  neutral, 
conveyed  under  American  flags,  shall  be  confiscated  ;  that  every 
thing  which  serves  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  arming  and  equipping 
of  vessels,  shall  be  contraband — that  every  American  who  shall  hold 
a  commission  from  the  enemies  of  France,  as  well  as  every  seaman  of 
that  nation,  composing  the  crew  of  the  ships  and  vessels,  shall,  by 
this  fact  alone,  be  declared  piratical,  and  treated  as  such,  without 
suffering  the  party  to  establish  that  the  act  was  the  consequence  of 
threats  or  violence  ;  that  every  American  ship  shall  be  deemed  a 
lawful  prize,  which  shall  not  have  on  board  a  bill  of  lading  (role 
d'equipage)  in  due  form,  according  to  the  plan  annexed  to  the  treaty 
of  the  sixth  of  February,  1778.  This  was  in  fact  a  declaration  of 
war  in  disguise.  It  was  so  intended.  The  Government  avowed  their 
determination  to  fleece  the  American  citizens  of  their  property,  to  a 
sufficient  degree  to  bring  them  to  their  feeling  in  the  only  nerve  in 
which  it  was  presumed  their  sensibility  lay,  which  was  their  pecuniary 
interest. 

When  Mr.  Adams  was  inaugurated  on  the  fourth  of  March,  1797, 
he  was  ignorant  of  this  decree  ;  he  only  knew  that  General  Pinckney 
had  been  refused  credence  as  Minister  Plenipotentiary,  and  had  been 
ordered  to  leave  France. 

Notwithstanding  this,  he  expressed  a  desire  for  reconciliation. 
Meeting  with  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  had  come  to  Philadelphia  to  take 
upon  himself  the  duties  of  Vice-President,  to  which  office  he  had 
just  been  elected,  Mr.  Adams  entered  immediately  on  an  explanation 
of  the  situation  of  our  affairs  with  France,  and  the  danger  of  rupture 
with  that  nation,  a  rupture  which  would  convulse  the  attachments  of 
this  country  ;  that  he  was  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  an  imme 
diate  mission  to  the  Directory,  and  had  concluded  to  send  one,  which, 
by  its  dignity,  should  satisfy  France,  and  by  its  selection  from  the 
three  great  divisions  of  the  continent,  should  satisfy  all  parts  of  the 
United  States ;  in  short,  that  he  had  determined  to  join  Gerry  and 
Madison  to  Pinckney,  and  he  requested  Mr.  Jefferson  to  consult  Mr. 
Madison  for  him.  On  the  sixth  of  March,  when  Mr.  Jefferson  re 
ported  the  result  of  his  negotiation  with  Mr.  Madison,  the  President 
replied,  tha/t,  on  consultation,  some  objections  to  that  nomination  had 
been  raised,  which  he  had  not  contemplated  j  the  subject  was  then 
dropped,  and  never  afterwards  resumed.  The  consultation  alluded 


MR.  ADAMS  ELECTED  PRESIDENT.  103 

to  was  with  Pickering,  Wolcott,  McHenry  and  Lee,  the  late  Cabi 
net  of  General  Washington,  which  he  had  transmitted  entire  to  his 
successor.  The  feelings  and  opinions  of  those  gentlemen  are  well 
known  to  the  reader.  So  that  the  kind  intentions  of  Mr.  Adams,  in 
the  first  enthusiasm  of  office,  towards  the  Republican  party,  and  his 
spirit  of  conciliation  towards  France,  were  soon  dissipated  by  the 
advice  of  his  counsellors.  In  less  than  three  weeks  from  this  date, 
the  President's  proclamation  was  issued,  requiring  an  extraordinary 
session  of  Congress  to  be  convened  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  May. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  President  was  advised  to  this  measure,  and 
that  the  design  of  his  advisers  was  to  procure,  if  not  a  declaration  of 
war,  at  least  the  enactment  of  such  strong  retaliatory  measures  as 
would  lead  to  that  result.  There  could  have  been  no  other  motive 
in  convening  the  legislative  department  at  that  unusual  season ;  and 
when  the  decree  of  the  2d  of  March  was  made  known,  there  was  no 
other  alternative  left  to  the  Administration.  The  President  might 
have  dismissed  his  ministers,  and  taken  into  his  Cabinet  such  men  as 
Madison,  Gallatin  and  Gerry.  With  their  advice  he  could  have  sent 
to  France,  as  he  proposed  at  first,  such  envoys  as  would  at  once  have 
satisfied  that  nation,  smothered  every  asperity,  caused  the  repeal  of 
every  obnoxious  decree,  and  the  institution  of  a  tribunal  to  try  all 
questions  of  dispute  between  the  two  nations.  But  not  choosing  to 
follow  this  course,  there  was  no  alternative  in  the  line  of  policy  to 
be  pursued  but  war  or  disgrace. 

The  President's  opening  speech  on  the  17th  of  May,  was  consid 
ered  by  his  friends  sufficiently  spirited.  After  giving  a  history  of 
the  rejection  of  the  American  Minister  by  the  Executive  Directory, 
and  the  indignities  offered  to  the  nation  through  him,  he  thus  pro 
ceeds  :  "  With  this  conduct  of  the  French  Government,  it  will  be 
proper  to  take  into  view  the  public  audience  given  to  the  late  Minis 
ter  of  the  United  States  on  his  taking  leave  of  the  Executive  Direc 
tory — the  speech  of  the  President  discloses  sentiments  more  alarm 
ing  than  the  refusal  of  a  Minister,  because  more  dangerous  to  our 
independence  and  union  ;  and  at  the  same  time  studiously  marked 
with  indignities  towards  the  Government  of  the  United  States  :  it 
evinces  a  disposition  to  separate  the  people  of  the  United  States  from 
the  Government,  to  persuade  them  that  they  have  different  affections, 
principles,  and  interests,  from  those  of  their  fellow-citizens  whom  they 


104  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

themselves  have  chosen  to  manage  their  common  concerns ;  and  thus 
to  produce  divisions  fatal  to  our  peace.  Such  attempts  ought  to  be 
repelled  with  a  decision  which  shall  convince  France  and  the  world, 
that  we  are  not  a  degraded  people,  humiliated  under  a  colonial  spirit 
of  fear  and  sense  of  inferiority,  fitted  to  be  the  miserable  instruments 
of  foreign  influence,  and  regardless  of  national  honor,  character,  and 
interest." 

While  he  intended  to  make  another  effort  to  adjust  all  our  differ 
ences  with  France  by  amicable  negotiation,  the  threatening  aspect  of 
affairs  rendered  it  his  indispensable  duty  to  recommend  to  the  con 
sideration  of  Congress  effectual  measures  tf  defence.  "  The  present 
situation  of  our  country,"  says  he,  in  conclusion,  "  imposes  an  obliga 
tion  on  all  the  departments  of  Government  to  adopt  an  explicit  and 

decided  conduct It  is  impossible  to  conceal  from  ourselves,  or 

the  world,  what  has  been  before  observed,  that  endeavors  have  been 
employed  to  foster  and  establish  a  division  between  the  Government 
and  the  people  of  the  United  States.  To  investigate  the  causes 
which  have  encouraged  this  attempt  is  not  necessary ;  but  to  repel, 
by  decided  and  united  councils,  insinuations  so  derogatory  to  the 
honor,  and  aggressions  so  dangerous  to  the  constitution,  union,  and 
even  independence  of  the  nation,  is  an  indispensable  duty Con 
vinced  that  the  conduct  of  this  Government  has  been  just  and  impar 
tial  to  foreign  nations  ;  that  those  internal  regulations  which  have 
been  established  by  land  for  the  preservation  of  peace,  are  in  their 
nature  proper,  and  that  they  have  been  fairly  executed  ;  nothing  will 
ever  be  done  by  me  to  impair  the  national  engagements,  to  innovate 
upon  principles  which  have  been  so  deliberately  and  uprightly  estab 
lished,  or  to  surrender  in  any  manner  tlw  rights  of  the  Government." 

This  energetic  speech  of  the  President  was  not  responded  to  by 
the  Representatives  in  the  same  spirit.  The  original  draft  of  the 
address  intending  to  be  fully  responsive  to  the  speech,  contained  the 
following  clause  :  "  Knowing  as  we  do  the  confidence  reposed  by  the 
people  of  the  United  States  in  their  Government,  we  cannot  hesitate 
in  expressing  our  indignation  at  the  sentiments  disclosed  by  the 
President  of  the  Executive  Directory  of  France  in  his  speech  to  the 
Minister  of  the  United  States.  Such  sentiments  serve  to  discover 
the  imperfect  knowledge  which  France  possesses  of  the  real  opinions 
of  our  constituents."  This  very  pointed  and  spirited  paragraph  was 


MR.  ADAMS  ELECTED  PRESIDENT.  105 

stricken  out  by  a  vote  of  forty-eight  to  forty-six,  and  the  following 
substituted  in  its  place  :  "  Any  sentiments  tending  to  derogate  from 
the  confidence  ;  such  sentiments,  wherever  entertained,  serve  to  evince 
an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  real  opinion  of  our  constituents." 

The  address  contained  the  following  paragraph :  "  We  there 
fore  receive,  with  the  utmost  satisfaction,  your  information  that  a 
fresh  attempt  at  negotiation  will  be  instituted ;  and  we  cherish  the 
hope  that  a  mutual  spirit  of  conciliation,  and  a  disposition  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States  to  place  France  on  grounds  similar  to  those 
of  other  countries,  in  their  relation  and  connection  with  us,  if  any 
irregularities  shall  be  found  to  exist,  will  produce  an  accommodation 
compatible  with  the  engagements,  rights,  duties,  and  honor  of  the 
United  States."  A  motion  was  made  to  strike  out  the  latter  part  of 
this  clause,  in  regard  to  France.  It  was  negatived  by  a  vote  of 
forty-nine  tojifty.  Thus  it  seems  that  there  were  forty-nine  mem 
bers  opposed  to  placing  France  on  similar  grounds  to  those  of  other 
countries,  in  their  relation  and  connection  with  us. 

A  motion  was  then  made  to  strike  out  the  whole  paragraph. 
Only  forty-one  voted  for  this  proposition  ;  so  that  there  were  at  least 
that  many  opposed  to  any  farther  negotiation,  or  conciliation  with 
France. 

A  motion  was  made  to  strike  from  the  address  the  following  pa 
ragraph  :  "  Believing,  with  you,  that  the  conduct  of  the  Government 
has  been  just  and  impartial  to  foreign  nations  ;  that  the  laws  for 
the  preservation  of  peace  have  been  proper,  and  that  they  have  been 
fairly  executed,  the  representatives  of  the  people  do  not  hesitate  to 
declare,  that  they  will  give  their  most  cordial  support  to  the  execu 
tion  of  principles  so  deliberately  and  uprightly  established."  This 
motion  was  made  by  Mr.  Gallatin,  who  was  a  native  of  Geneva,  and 
spoke  English  with  a  very  broken  accent.  It  was  opposed  by  Mr. 
Allen,  who  said  he  was  sure  such  a  motion  could  never  pass  while 
there  was  a  drop  of  American  blood  in  the  House,  and  an  American 
accent  to  say  no.  Forty-five  voted  to  strike  out,  thereby  expressing 
their  belief  that  the  Government  had  not  been  just  and  impartial  to 
foreign  nations — that  laws  proper  for  the  preservation  of  peace  had 
not  been  enacted,  nor  fairly  executed. 

The  House  of  Representatives  was  composed  of  one  hundred 
members,  leaving  out  the  Speaker ;  ninety-nine  remained  to  vote  on 

VOL.  i.  5* 


106  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

all  questions.  Fifty  made  the  majority.  .  Thus  the  reader  will  per 
ceive  that  a  very  large  and  powerful  minority  were  opposed  to  all 
the  measures  of  the  administration.  Much  the  larger  portion  of  its 
friends  were  desirous  of  no  further  attempts  at  negotiation  with 
France,  and  were  prepared  to  push  matters  to  the  extremity  of  war ; 
but  the  two  or  three  timid,  vacillating,  and  as  it  was  asserted,  venal  men, 
necessary  to  make  the  majority,  could  not  be  relied  on.  All  the  la 
bors  of  Congress,  after  a  two  months'  session,  resulted  in  a  perfect 
abortion.  A  few  insignificant  acts  of  a  defensive  character  were 
passed,  but  nothing  energetic  or  decisive  was  done. 

The  republican  party,  or  French  partisans  as  they  were  called, 
were  reproached  for  this  failure.  General  Washington  had  long  be 
fore  said  they  were  the  friends  of  war  and  confusion  ;  it  was  now 
asserted  that  they  were  prepared  to  sacrifice  the  independence  of 
their  own  country  to  the  ambition  of  France.  Had  it  been  merely 
a  subject  of  foreign  policy  that  divided  them  from  the  administra 
tion,  it  might  be  a  question  how  far  they  were  justified  in  giving  the 
least  countenance  to  the  indignities  and  the  atrocities  of  the  French 
Government.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  great  principles, 
deep  and  radical,  not  only  in  regard  to  the  interpretation  of  the 
Constitution,  but  the  basis  and  design  of  all  government,  divided 
them  from  the  party  of  the  administration.  They  were  firmly  im 
pressed  with  the  belief  that  the  latter  desired  to  absorb  all  the  pow 
ers  distributed  among  the  States,  and  left  to  the  people,  into  the 
federal  head ;  to  concentrate  them  in  the  Executive,  and  then  to  con 
solidate  and  confirm  these  usurpations  by  a  close  alliance  with  Great 
Britain,  whose  government  and  policy  were  to  be  taken  as  a  model 
for  our  own  ;  and  that  all  their  measures,  the  British  treaty,  disgrace 
of  Randolph,  recall  of  Monroe,  and  unconciliating  temper  towards 
France,  were  taken  with  a  view  to  the  consummation  of  these  great 
designs.  Thus  impressed,  it  could  not  be  expected  that  those  men 
would  yield  to  the  policy  of  the  administration.  The  lasting  welfare 
of  the  country  was  of  more  importance  than  the  removal  of  a  mere 
temporary  shadow  that  overhung  the  shield  of  its  fame.  They  saw 
the  administration  in  a  dilemma  ;  they  did  not  consider  it  their  duty 
to  extricate  them  from  it,  that  they  might  pursue  measures  detri 
mental  to  the  interests  of  the  country. 

Mr.   Adams  never  pursued  any  well-digested  plan  of  any  sort. 


MR.  ADAMS  ELECTED  PRESIDENT.  107 

He  was  the  creature  of  impulse.  His  first  impulse,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  to  send  Madison  and  Gerry  to  France.  This  feeling  he  yielded 
to  the  wishes  of  his  counsellors,  who  were  evidently  for  war.  The 
representatives  of  the  people  were  called  together  to  second  these 
designs.  But  falling  far  short  of  the  expectations  of  those  who  had 
advised  the  call,  the  President  was  compelled  to  fall  back  on  his  ori 
ginal  plan,  and  resort  once  more  to  negotiation.  But  it  was  now  too 
late.  He  found  himself  in  this  awkward  position.  He  had  said  to 
France,  I  was  indignant  at  your  insults  and  malicious  attempts  to 
divide  the  people  from  their  government,  and  intended  to  repel  them 
with  ^becoming  spirit ;  but  when  I  called  on  the  popular  branch  of 
government,  those  who  more  immediately  represented  the  feelings 
and  wishes  of  the  people,  to  furnish  me  the  means,  I  found  that  a 
very  formidable  minority  were  of  your  way  of  thinking ;  very  few 
prepared  to  retaliate  your  insults  with  war,  and  a  large  majority  dis 
posed  to  conciliate  you  by  further  negotiations.  I  am  compelled  to 
yield  to  their  wishes,  as  they  are  the  war-making  power ;  and  as  a 
token  of  my  sincerity,  I  send  you  three  envoys — Messrs.  Pinckney, 
Marshall,  and  Dana — gentlemen,  one  of  whom  you  know,  of  high- 
toned  character,  great  devotion  to  my  administration  and  the  policy 
of  my  predecessor — indignant  at  the  insults  you  have  offered  their 
government,  hostile  to  your  principles,  shocked  at  your  merciless 
barbarities  at  home  and  abroad,  and  prepared  with  unyielding  energy 
and  spirit  to  demand  redress  for  the  depredations  you  have  com 
mitted  on  our  commerce,  and  the  injuries  you  have  done  to  our 
seamen. 

What  could  have  been  expected  from  such  a  mission  but  disap 
pointment  and  additional  insult  ?  It  is  true  Mr.  Dana  resigned,  and 
Gerry  was  put  in  his  place  ;  but  the  majority  of  the  commission  were 
precisely  such  men  as  were  the  least  agreeable  to  the  Directory.  It 
was  just  as  well  known  to  Barras.  Merlin,  and  Talleyrand,  as  it  was 
to  Gallatin,  Madison,  and  Jefferson,  that  the  administration  were  in 
a  difficulty  from  which  they  could  not  easily  escape.  They  saw 
plainly  from  the  proceedings  and  the  debates  of  Congress,  that  Mr. 
Adams  would  be  compelled  to  yield  to  the  republican  party,  or  make 
war  on  France,  and  ally  himself  with  England,  or  retire  in  disgrace. 
A  war  with  France,  and  a  consequent  alliance  with  England,  they 
knew  would  not  be  attempted  with  so  formidable  an  opposition  as 


103  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

the  late  Congress  had  displayed.  They  had  every  reason  to  expect, 
that  by  a  steady  resistance  to  the  overtures  of  the  administration, 
they  would  finally  secure  a  triumph  to  their  friends  in  America. 
Governments  are  conducted  by  men  ;  men  are  influenced  by  human 
motives,  too  often  by  the  basest  passions  and  prejudices — (Quam 
parva  sapientia  regitur  mundus.)  Judging  from  these  premises,  it 
was  preposterous  in  Mr.  Adams  to  suppose  that  his  embassy  would 
be  received  by  the  Directory  in  any  other  than  the  haughtiest 
spirit.  The  defeat  of  such  a  mission  must  have  been  foreseen  from 
the  beginning.  Pickering,  Wolcott  and  Company  had  too  much 
political  sagacity  not  to  have  anticipated  it.  And  perhaps  it  is  not 
uncharitable  to  suppose,  that  it  was  projected  with  the  view  of  creat 
ing  additional  causes  of  irritation  on  the  part  of  France. 


CHAPTEE    XIX. 

THE   X.  Y.  Z.  BUSINESS. 

THE  envoys  arrived  in  Paris  about  the  first  of  October,  1797.  On 
the  eighth  they  were  introduced  to  the  minister,  M.  Talleyrand,  and 
produced  their  letters  of  credence.  The  minister  informed  them 
that  he  was  engaged  in  preparing  for  the  Executive  Directory,  a 
report  relative  to  the  situation  of  the  United  States  with  regard  to 
France ;  and  that  when  it  was  finished  he  would  let  them  know  what 
steps  were  to  follow.  They  then  retired  with  the  promise  that  cards 
of  hospitality,  in  a  style  suitable  to  their  official  -character,  should  be 
furnished  them.  No  further  notice  was  taken  of  them  for  ten  days. 
They  complained  to  unofficial  persons  that  they  had  been  treated 
with  great  slight  and  disrespect  since  their  arrival.  Talleyrand,  on 
the  other  hand,  complained  that  they  had  not  been  to  see  him.  He 
sent  his  private  secretary,  Mr.  Z.,  to  wait  on  them.  They  had  not 
yet  been  received  by  the  Directory  ;  and,  of  course,  their  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs  could  not  recognize  them  publicly  as  ambassadors. 
But  he  did  all  in  his  power  to  do  :  he  sent  his  secretary,  who  in 
formed  them  that  M.  Talleyrand,  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations, 


THE  X.  Y.  Z.  BUSINESS.  109 

professed  to  be  well  disposed  towards  the  United  States ;  had  ex 
pected  to  have  seen  the  American  Ministers  frequently  in  their  pri 
vate  capacities ;  and  to  have  conferred  with  them  individually  on  the 
objects  of  their  mission  ;  and  had  authorized  him  to  make  the  com 
munication.  This,  from  the  circumstances  in  which  the  parties  were 
placed,  seems  not  to  have  been  an  unreasonable  expectation  on  the 
part  of  M.  Talleyrand.  But  two  of  the  envoys  excused  themselves 
on  the  ground  of  etiquette.  General  Pinckney  and  General  Marshall 
expressed  their  opinion,  that,  not  being  acquainted  with  M.  Talley 
rand,  they  could  not,  with  propriety,  call  on  him  ;  but  that,  accord 
ing  to  the  custom  of  France,  he  might  expect  this  of  Mr.  Gerry,  from 
a  previous  acquaintance  in  America.  This  Mr.  Gerry  reluctantly 
complied  with,  and  appointed  a  day  for  an  interview.  While  thus 
standing  off  in  this  ceremonious  manner,  and  unrecognized  by  the 
Government,  our  envoys  had  some  strange  adventures.  In  the 
morning  of  October  the  eighteenth,  Mr.  W  *  *  *  *,  of  the  house 
of********,  called  on  General  Pinckney,  and  informed  him  that 
a  Mr.  X.  who  was  in  Paris,  and  whom  the  General  had  seen,  *  *  *  * 

*  *  *  *,  was  a  gentleman  of  considerable  credit  and  reputation,  *  *  * 
*****,  and  that  we   might  place  great  reliance  on  him.     In  the 
evening  of  the  same  day,  Mr.  X,  the  gentleman  so  mysteriously  an 
nounced,  called  on  General  Pinckney,  and  after  having  sat  some 
time,  whispered  him,  that  he  had  a  message  from  M.   Talleyrand  to 
communicate  when  he  was  at  leisure.    General  Pinckney  immediately 
withdrew  with  him  into  another  room ;  and  when  they  were  alone 
Mr.  X.  said,  that  he  was  charged  with  a  business  in  which  he  was  a 
novice  ;  that  he  had  been  acquainted  with  M.  Talleyrand,  ****** 

*  *   *   *,  and  that  he  was  sure  he  had  a  great  regard  for  America 
and  its  citizens ;  and  was  very  desirous  that  a  reconciliation  should 
be  brought  about  with  France  ;  that  to  effectuate  that  end,  he  was 
ready,  if  it  was  thought  proper,  to  suggest  a  plan,  confidentially,  that 
M.  Talleyrand  expected  would  answer  the  purpose.     General  Pinck 
ney  said  he  would  be  glad  to  hear  it.     Mr.  X.  replied,  that  the  Di 
rectory,  and  particularly  two  of  the  members  of  it,  were  exceedingly 
irritated  at  some  passages  of  the   President's  speech  at  the  opening 
of  Congress  in  May,  and  desired  that  they  should  be  softened  ;  and 
that  this   step  would   be  necessary  previous  to  our  reception  ;  that, 
besides  this,  a  sum  of  money  was  required  for  the  pocket  of  the  Di- 


LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

rectory  and  ministers  (about  fifty  thousand  pounds  sterling),  which 
would  be  at  the  disposal  of  M.  Talleyrand ;  and  that  a  loan  would 
also  be  insisted  on.  Mr.  X.  said,  if  we  acceded  to  these  measures, 
M.  Talleyrand  had  no  doubt  that  all  our  difficulties  with  France 
might  be  accommodated.  At  the  same  time,  he  said  his  communi 
cation  was  not  immediately  with  M.  Talleyrand,  but  through  another 
gentleman,  in  whom  M.  Talleyrand  had  great  confidence. 

Next  day  Mr.  X.,  and  Mr.  Y.,  the  confidential  friend  alluded 
to,  called  on  the  envoys.  Mr.  Y.,  having  been  introduced  as  the  con 
fidential  friend  of  M.  Talleyrand,  commenced  the  conversation,  and 
proceeded  pretty  much  in  the  same  strain  as  Mr.  X.  on  the  day  pre 
ceding.  He  said  the  minister  could  not  see  them  himself,  as  they 
had  not  been  received  by  the  Directory,  but  had  authorized  his  friend 
Mr.  Y.  to  communicate  certain  propositions,  and  to  promise  on  his 
part,  that  if  they  could  be  considered  as  the  basis  of  the  proposed 
negotiation,  he  would  intercede  with  the  Directory  to  acknowledge 
them,  and  to  give  them  a  public  audience.  Mr.  Y.  stated  explicitly 
and  repeatedly  that  he  was  clothed  with  no  authority ;  that  he  was 
not  a  diplomatic  character ;  that  he  was  not  ********;  ne  was 
only  the  friend  of  M.  Talleyrand,  and  trusted  by  him.  He  then 
read  the  parts  of  the  President's  speech  that  were  objectionable,  and 
dilated  very  much  upon  the  keenness  of  the  resentment  it  had  pro 
duced,  and  expatiated  largely  on  the  satisfaction  he  said  was  indis 
pensably  necessary  as  a  preliminary  to  negotiation.  "  But,"  said  he, 
"  gentlemen,  I  will  not  disguise  from  you  that  this  satisfaction  being 
made,  the  essential  part  of  the  treaty  remains  to  be  adjusted  :  II  faut 
de  1'argent — il  faut  beaucoup  d'argent ;"  you  must  pay  money — you 
must  pay  a  great  deal  of  money.  He  said  that  the  reception  of  the 
money  might  be  so  disguised  as  to  prevent  its  being  considered  a 
breach  of  neutrality  by  England ;  and  thus  save  us  from  being  em 
broiled  with  that  power.  Concerning  the  twelve  hundred  thousand 
livres  (£50,000),  little  was  said. 

Next  day  (October  21st)  Mr.  X.  and  Mr.  Y.  again  called  on  the 
envoys,  and  commenced  their  private  and  unofiicial  negotiation.  It  was 
explained  more  fully,  how  the  loan  might  be  accomplished  by  the 
purchase  of  certain  Dutch  inscriptions  held  by  the  French  govern 
ment  ;  and  it  was  delicately  intimated,  that  if  the  envoys  would  search 
a  little,  they  might  find  means  to  soothe  the  angry  feelings  of  Mer- 


THE  X.  Y.  Z.  BUSINESS.  HI 

lin  and  Company,  and  avert  the  demand  concerning  the  President's 
speech. 

The  envoys  replied,  that  the  proposition  of  a  loan  in  the  form  of 
Dutch  inscriptions,  or  in  any  other  form,  was  not  within  the  limits 
of  their  instructions,  and  that  upon  this  point  the  Government  must 
be  consulted ;  and  one  of  the  American  ministers  would,  for  the  pur 
pose,  forthwith  embark  for  America. 

Mr.  Y.  seemed  disappointed  at  this  conclusion.  He  said  the  en 
voys  treated  the  money  part  of  the  proposition  as  if-it  had  proceeded 
from  the  Directory  ;  whereas,  in  fact,  it  did  not  even  proceed  from 
the  minister,  but  was  only  a  suggestion  from  himself,  as  a  substitute 
to  be  proposed  by  them,  in  order  to  avoid  the  painful  acknowledg 
ment  that  the  Directory  had  determined  to  demand. 

These  unofficial  gentlemen,  X.  and  Y.,  who,  the  envoys  admitted, 
had  brought  no  testimonials  of  their  speaking  any  thing  from  autho 
rity,  continued  their  visits  from  day  to  day,  and  urged  their  propo 
sitions  with  all  the  earnestness  and  eloquence  they  possessed.  They 
told  the  envoys  that  France  had  just  concluded  a  treaty  with  the 
Emperor  of  Austria ;  and  that  the  Directory,  since  this  peace,  had 
taken  a  higher  and  more  decided  tone  with  respect  to  the  United 
States,  and  all  other  neutral  nations,  than  had  been  before  taken ; 
that  it  had  been  determined  that  all  nations  should  aid  them,  or  be 
considered  and  treated  as  their  enemies.  They  expatiated  on  the 
power  and  violence  of  France,  urged  the  danger  of  our  situation,  and 
pressed  the  policy  of  softening  them,  and  of  thereby  obtaining  time. 

While  these  strange  conferences  were  held  with  men  unconnected 
with  the  Government,  and  one  a  foreigner,  Mr.  Gerry,  on  the  28th  of 
October,  according  to  appointment,  paid  his  first  visit  to  the  minis 
ter  since  the  day  of  their  presentation.  The  others,  standing  on 
etiquette,  refused  to  go.  After  the  first  introduction,  M.  Talleyrand 
began  the  conference.  He  said  the  Directory  had  passed  an  arr6te, 
which  he  offered  for  perusal,  in  which  they  had  demanded  of  the 
envoys  an  explanation  of  some  parts,  and  a  reparation  for  others,  of 
the  President's  speech  to  Congress,  of  the  16th  of  May  last.  He 
was  sensible,  he  said,  that  difficulties  would  exist  on  the  part  of  the 
envoys  relative  to  this  demand ;  but  that  by  their  offering  money,  he 
thought  he  could  prevent  the  effect  of  the  arrete.  It  having  been 
stated  that  the  envoys  had  no  such  power,  M.  Talleyrand  replied,  they 


-Q2  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

can  in  such  case  take  a  power  on  themselves,  and  proposed  that  they 
should  make  a  loan.  Mr.  Gerry  then  stated  that  the  uneasiness  of 
the  Directory  resulting  from  the  President's  speech,  was  a  subject 
unconnected  with  the  objects  of  their  mission ;  that  the  powers  of 
the  envoys,  as  they  conceived,  were  adequate  to  the  discussion  and 
adjustment  of  all  points  of  real  difference  between  the  two  nations  ; 
that  they  could  alter  and  amend  the  treaty,  or,  if  necessary,  form  a 
new  one ;  that  as  to  a  loan,  they  had  no  powers  whatever  to  make 
one  ;  but  that  they  could  send  one  of  their  number  for  instructions 
on  this  proposition,  if  deemed  expedient.  M.  Talleyrand,  in  answer, 
said  he  should  be  glad  to  confer  with  the  other  envoys  individually  ; 
but  that  this  matter  about  the  money  must  be  settled  directly,  with 
out  sending  to  America ;  that  he  would  not  communicate  the  arr6te 
for  a  week  ;  and  that  if  they  could  adjust  the  matter  about  the 
speech,  an  application  would,  nevertheless,  go  to  the  United  States  for 
a  loan.  In  this  private  interview  between  M.  Talleyrand  and  one  of 
the  envoys,  that  minister  intimates  that  a  loan  will  be  asked,  and  will 
be  expected  to  be  granted  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  ;  but  not 
the  slightest  allusion  is  made  to  a  douceur  for  the  use  of  the  members 
of  the  Directory. 

On  the  llth  of  November  the  envoys  transmitted  an  official  letter 
for  the  first  time  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  in  which  they 
state  that  his  declaration  at  the  time  of  their  arrival,  that  a  report 
on  American  affairs  was  then  preparing,  and  would,  in  a  few  days 
be  laid  before  the  Directory,  whose  decision  thereon  should,  without 
delay,  be  made  known,  had  hitherto  imposed  silence  on  them.  For 
this  communication  they  had  waited  with  that  anxious  solicitude  which 
so  interesting  an  event  could  not  fail  to  excite,  and  with  that  respect 
which  was  due  to  the  government  of  France.  They  disclosed  their 
full  powers  to  treat  on  all  differences  between  the  two  nations ;  and 
expressed  their  anxiety  to  commence  the  task  of  restoring  that  friend 
ship,  that  mutual  interchange  of  good  offices,  which  it  was  alike  their 
wish  and  their  duty  to  effect  between  the  citizens  of  the  two  repub 
lics.  Having  received  no  answer,  on  the  21st  they  sent  their  secre 
tary  to  wait  on  the  minister,  and  inquire  of  him  whether  he  had 
communicated  the  letter  to  the  Directory,  and  whether  an  answer 
might  be  expected.  He  replied  that  he  had  submitted  the  letter, 
and  that  when  he  was  directed  what  steps  to  pursue,  thev  should  be 

•      £  1  J 

informed. 


THE  X.  Y.  Z.  BUSINESS.  113 

On  the  24th  of  December  the  envoys  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of 
State,  that  they  had  received  no  answer  to  their  official  letter  to 
the  Minister  of  Foreign  Aifairs,  dated  the  llth  of  November;  but 
that  reiterated  attempts  had  been  made  to  engage  them  in  negotia 
tion  with  persons  not  officially  authorized.  They  further  stated  it 
as  their  opinion,  that  if  they  were  to  remain  six  months  longer,  un 
less  they  were  to  stipulate  the  payment  of  money,  and  a  great  deal 
of  it,  in  some  shape  or  other,  they  would  not  be  able  to  effectuate  the 
object  of  their  mission,  nor  would  they  even  be  officially  received. 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  in  a  message  to  Congress, 
March  19th,  1798,  stated  that  the  dispatches  from  the  envoys  ex 
traordinary  to  the  French  Republic  had  been  received,  examined, 
maturely  considered,  and  that  he  perceived  no  ground  of  expectation 
that  the  objects  of  their  mission  could  be  accomplished,  on  terms 
compatible  with  the  safety,  honor,  or  the  essential  interests  of  the 
nation. 

On  the  27th  of  January,  1798,  the  envoys  addressed  a  letter  to 
the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  on  the  subject  of  a  late  law,  author 
izing  the  capture  of  neutral  vessels,  on  board  of  which  any  produc 
tions  of  Great  Britain  or  its  possessions  should  be  laden  showing 
how  incompatible  such  law  was  with  the  rights  of  neutral  nations 
and  the  treaty  between  France  and  America,  its  direct  tendency  to 
destroy  the  remaining  commerce  of  this  country,  and  the  particular 
hardships  to  which  it  would  subject  the  agricultural  as  well  as 
commercial  interests  of  their  countrymen,  from  the  peculiar  situa 
tion  of  the  United  States.  They  added,  that  under  existing  circum 
stances,  they  could  no  longer  resist  the  conviction,  that  the  demands 
of  France  rendered  it  entirely  impracticable  to  effect  the  objects  of 
their  mission.  On  the  19th  of  February,  having  received  no  answer 
to  this  communication,  they  sent  their  secretary  to  know  of  the  min 
ister  whether  he  had  any  response  to  make.  He  replied  that  he  had 
none,  as  the  Directory  had  taken  no  order  on  the  subject.  At  length, 
on  the  27th  of  February,  for  the  first  time  since  their  arrival  in 
Paris,  the  envoys  solicited  a  personal  interview  on  the  subject  of 
their  mission.  The  minister  promptly  acceded  to  the  request,  and 
fixed  on  the  2d  day  of  March  for  the  interview.  On  that  occasion, 
the  minister  said,  that,  without  doubt,  the  Directory  wished  very 
sincerely,  on  the  arrival  of  the  envoys,  to  see  a  solid  friendship  es- 


LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

• 
tablished  between  France  and  the  United  States,  and  had  manifested 

this  disposition,  by  the  readiness  with  which  orders  for  their  pass 
ports  were  given.  That  the  Directory  had  been  extremely  wounded 
by  the  last  speech  of  General  Washington,  made  to  Congress  when 
about  to  quit  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States ;  and  by 
the  first  and  last  speech  of  Mr.  Adams.  That  explanations  of  these 
speeches  were  expected  and  required  of  us.  He  said,  that  the  ori 
ginal  favorable  disposition  of  the  Directory  had  been  a  good  deal  al 
tered  by  the  coldness  and  distance  which  the  envoys  had  observed. 
That  instead  of  seeing  him  often,  and  endeavoring  to  remove  the 
obstacles  to  a  mutual  approach,  they  had  not  once  waited  on  him. 
In  this  state  of  things  some  proof,  he  said,  would  be  required  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States,  of  a  friendly  disposition,  previous  to  a 
treaty  with  them.  The  envoys  ought  to  search  for,  and  propose 
some  means  which  might  furnish  this  proof*  In  this  he  alluded  very 
intelligibly  to  a  loan.  He  said  he  must  exact  from  them,  on  the 
part  of  his  Government,  some  proposition  of  this  sort ;  that  to  prove 
their  friendship,  there  must  be  some  immediate  aid,  or  something 
which  might  avail  them ;  that  the  principles  of  reciprocity  would  re 
quire  it.  This  once  done,  he  said,  the  adjustment  of  complaints 
would  be  easy ;  that  would  be  matter  of  inquiry ;  and  if  France  had 
done  wrong,  it  would  be  repaired ;  but  that  if  this  was  refused,  it 
would  increase  the  distance  and  coldness  between  the  two  republics. 
It  was  replied  that  the  envoys  had  no  power  to  make  a  loan.  One 
of  them,  Mr.  Gerry,  then  observed,  that  the  Government  of  France 
must  judge  for  itself;  but  that  it  appeared  to  him,  that  a  treaty  on 
liberal  principles,  such  as  those  on  which  the  treaty  of  commerce  be 
tween  the  two  nations  was  first  established,  would  be  infinitely  more 
advantageous  to  France  than  the  trifling  advantages  she  could  de 
rive  from  a  loan.  Such  a  treaty  would  produce  a  friendship  and  at 
tachment  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  to  France,  which  would 
be  solid  and  permanent,  and  produce  benefits  far  superior  to  those  of 
a  loan,  even  if  they  had  powers  to  make  it.  To  this  observation,  M. 
Talleyrand  made  no  reply.  Nor  did  he  express  any  sentiment  as  to 
the  propriety  of  one  of  the  envoys  going  home  to  consult  the  Gov 
ernment  on  the  expediency  of  giving  powers  to  negotiate  a  loan. 
He  had  already  expressed  his  opinion  that  they  had  the  power,  or 
might  assume  it,  without  violating  their  instructions. 


THE  X.  Y.  Z.  BUSINESS.  115 

On  the  18th  of  March,  M.  Talleyrand  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
envoys  in  answer  to  theirs  of  the  17th  January.  In  this  he  elabo 
rately  reviews  the  whole  course  of  the  two  Governments,  and  justifies 
France  in  every  particular.  It  might  appear  incredible,  he  said, 
that  the  Republic,  and  her  alliance,  were  sacrificed  at  the  moment 
when  she  had  redoubled  her  regards  for  her  ally  j  and  that  the  cor 
responding  demonstrations  of  the  Federal  Government  had  no  other 
object  but  to  keep  her,  as  well  as  her  Government,  in  a  false  security. 
And  yet  it  is  now  known,  that,  at  this  very  period,  Mr.  Jay, 
who  had  been  sent  to  London  solely,  as  it  was  then  said,  to  nego 
tiate  arrangements  relative  to  the  depredations  committed  upon  the 
American  commerce  by  the  cruisers  of  Great  Britain,  signed  a  treaty 
of  amity,  navigation  and  commerce,  the  negotiation  and  signing  of 
which  had  been  kept  a  profound  secret  at  Paris  and  at  Philadelphia. 
Observing  that,  in  this  treaty  every  thing  having  been  calculated  to 
turn  the  neutrality  of  the  United  States  to  the  disadvantage  of  the 
French  Republic,  and  to  the  advantage  of  England  ;  that  the  Federal 
Government  having  in  this  act  made  to  Great  Britain  concessions 
the  most  unheard  of,  the  most  incompatible  with  the  interests  of  the 
United  States,  the  most  derogatory  to  the  alliance  which  subsisted 
between  the  said  States  and  the  French  Republic ;  the  latter  was 
perfectly  free,  in  order  to  avoid  the  inconveniences  of  the  treaty  of 
London,  to  avail  itself  of  the  preservative  means  with  which  the  laws 
of  nature,  the  law  of  nations,  and  prior  treaties  furnished  it.  Such 
were  the  reasons-  which  had  produced  the  decrees  of  the  Directory,  of 
which  the  United  States  complained. 

He  then  proceeded  to  declare  that  newspapers,  known  to  be  under 
the  immediate  control  of  the  Cabinet,  had,  since  the  treaty,  redoubled 
their  invectives  and  calumnies  against  the  Republic  and  against  her 
principles,  her  magistrates  and  her  envoys.  Pamphlets,  openly  paid 
for  by  the  minister  of  Great  Britain,  had  reproduced  in  every  form 
those  insults  and  calumnies.  The  Government  itself  was  intent  on 
encouraging  this  scandal  in  its  public  acts.  The  Executive  Directory 
had  been  denounced  in  a  speech  delivered  by  the  President  as  en 
deavoring  to  propagate  anarchy  and  division  within  the  United  States. 
In  fine,  he  said,  one  could  not  help  discovering  in  the  tone  of  the 
speech  and  of  the  publications  which  had  just,  been  pointed  to.  a 
latent  enmity  that  only  wanted  an  opportunity  to  break  out.  Facts 


LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

being  thus  established,  it  was  disagreeable,  he  said,  to  be  obliged  to 
think  that  the  instructions  under  which  the  commissioners  acted, 
had  not  been  drawn  up  with  the  sincere  intention  of  attaining  pacific 
ends.  The  intentions  which  he  had  attributed  to  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  were  so  little  disguised,  that  nothing  seemed  to 
have  been  neglected  at  Philadelphia  to  manifest  them  to  every  eye. 
And  it  was  probably  with  this  view  that  it  was  thought  proper  to  send 
to  the  French  Kepublic,  persons  whose  opinions  and  connections  were 
too  well  known  to  hope  from  them  dispositions  sincerely  conciliatory. 
Penetrated  with  the  justice  of  these  reflections,  and  their  conse 
quences,  the  Executive  Directory  had  authorized  him  to  express  him 
self  with  all  the  frankness  which  became  the  French  nation.  It  was 
only  to  smooth  the  way  of  discussions  that  he  had  entered  into  the 
preceding  explanations.  It  was  with  the  same  view  that  he  declared 
to  the  commissioners  and  envoys  extraordinary,  that,  notwithstand 
ing  the  kind  of  prejudice  which  had  been  entertained  with  respect  to 
them,  the  Executive  Directory  was  disposed  to  treat  with  that  one  of 
the  three  whose  opinions,  presumed  to  be  more  impartial,  promised, 
in  the  course  of  the  explanations,  more  of  that  reciprocal  confidence 
which  was  indispensable. 

To  the  communication  of  Talleyrand,  the  envoys  returned  a  very 
elaborate  reply,  in  which  they  reviewed  all  the  points  of  difficulty 
raised  by  him,  endeavored  to  disabuse  his  mind  as  to  the  motives  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  the  prejudices  which  he 
imagined  to  exist  in  the  minds  of  the  envoys  themselves,  and  con 
cluded  by  declaring  that  no  one  of  them  was  authorized  to  take  upon 
himself  a  negotiation  indirectly  intrusted  by  the  tenor  of  their  powers 
and  instructions  to  the  whole ;  nor  were  there  any  two  of  them  who 
could  propose  to  withdraw  themselves  from  the  task  committed  to 
them  by  their  Government,  while  there  remained  a  possibility  of  per 
forming  it. 

The  very  day  the  answer  of  the  envoys  was  sent  to  the  minister 
(3d  April)  Mr.  Gerry  received  a  note  from  him  in  which  he  said : — 
"  I  suppose  that  Messrs.  Pinckney  and  Marshall  have  thought  it  use 
ful  and  proper,  in  consequence  of  the  intimations  given  in  the  end  of 
my  note  of  the  28th  Ventose  last  (18th  March),  and  the  obstacle 
which  their  known-opinions  have  interposed  to  the  desired  reconcilia 
tion,  to  quit  the  territory  of  the  Republic.  On  this  supposition,  I 


THE  X.  Y.  Z.  BUSINESS.  117 

have  the  honor  to  point  out  to  you  the  5th  or  7th  of  this  decade,  to 
resume  our  reciprocal  communications  upon  the  interests  of  the 
French  Republic  and  the  United  States  of  America." 

Mr.  Gerry  replied  (April  4th).  that  as  his  colleagues  were  expected 
to  quit  the  territory  of  France,  he  had  no  authority  to  act  in  their  ab 
sence.  He  could  only  confer  informally,  he  said,  and  unaccredited,  on 
any  subject  respecting  their  mission,  and  communicate  to  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  the  result  of  such  conferences,  being  in  his 
individual  capacity  unauthorized  to  give  them  an  official  stamp. 
Nevertheless,  every  measure  in  his  power,  he  said,  and  in  conformity 
with  the  duty  he  owed  his  country,  should  be  zealously  pursued,  to 
restore  harmony  and  a  cordial  friendship  between  the  two  republics. 

In  consequence  of  the  above  intimation  from  the  minister,  Messrs. 
Marshall  and  Pinckney  soon  left  Paris.  In  a  letter  to  the  President, 
dated  the  16th  of  April,  Mr.  Gerry  said  he  had  expected  his  passports 
with  his  colleagues,  but  was  informed  that  the  Directory  would  not 
consent  to  his  leaving  France  ;  and,  to  bring  on  an  immediate  rupture 
by  adopting  this  measure,  contrary  to  their  wishes,  would  be  in  his 
mind  unwarrantable,  and  therefore  he  concluded  to  remain. 

Thus  ended  this  extraordinary  mission  ;  a  conclusion  which  must 
have  been  foreseen — must  have  been  anticipated  by  those  who  pro 
jected  it.  So  soon  as  the  dispatches  containing  those  transactions,  of 
which  the  above  is  intended  to  be  a  faithful  though  succinct  nar 
rative,  were  made  known  to  the  public,  the  political  barometer  at 
once  rose  to  the  storm  point.  At  the  time  of  their  reception,  Con 
gress  was  debating  the  proposition,  that  it  is  inexpedient  to  resort  to 
war  against  the  French  Republic.  It  was  expected  to  be  carried  by 
a  majority  of  two  or  three  ;  but  it  was  now  laid  aside,  and  the  most 
vigorous  war  measures  introduced.  "  The  most  artful  misrepresen 
tations  of  the  contents  of  those  papers,"  says  Mr.  Jefferson,  April 
6th,  "  were  published  yesterday,  and  produced  such  a  shock  in  the 
republican  mind  as  had  never  been  since  our  independence.  We 
are  to  dread  the  effects  of  this  dismay  till  their  fuller  information 
The  spirit  kindled  up  in  the  towns  is  wonderful.  These  and  New 
Jersey  are  pouring  in  their  addresses,  offering  life  and  fortune.  The 
answers  of  the  President  are  more  thrasonic  than  the  addresses. 
Nor  is  it  France  alone,  but  his  own  fellow-citizens,  against  whom 
his  threats  are  extended.  The  delusions,  says  he,  and  misrepresent 


LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

tations  which  have  misled  so  many  citizens  must  be  discountenanced 

by  authority,  as  well  as  by  the  citizens  at  large At 

present  the  warhawks  talk  of  Septembrizing,  deportation,  and  the 
examples  of  quelling  sedition  set  by  the  French  Executive.  Early 
in  April  the  war  party,  with  passionate  exclamation,  declared  that 
they  would  soon  pass  a  citizens'  bill,  an  alien  bill,  and  a  sedition  bill, 
with  the  view  of  disfranchising  such  men  as  Gallatin,  banishing  Vol- 
ney,  Collot,  and  other  unfortunate  Frenchmen  who  had  taken  refuge 
in  the  country,  and  of  silencing  Bache,  Carey,  and  other  republican 
presses." 

The  excitement  spread  far  and  wide  among  the  people.  The  cry 
was,  millions  for  defence,  not  a  cent  for  tribute.  This  broad,  compre 
hensive,  self-evident  proposition  to  a  brave  and  independent  people, 
soon  became  the  watchword  of  the  multitude :  millions  for  defence, 
not  a  cent  for  tribute.  This  happy  and  pithy  appeal  to  the  pride  of 
a  nation  was  level  to  the  capacity  of  all ;  every  body  could  under 
stand  it ;  and,  what  was  more  important,  every  body  could  feel  it. 
'Twas  vain  to  attempt  to  reason  down  this  excited  feeling  of  national 
pride.  'Twas  vain  to  tell  the  people  that  France  had  demanded  no  tri 
bute — that  our  envoys  had  never  held  but  one  interview  with  the  minis 
ter  of  foreign  affairs,  and  that  the  only  proposition  on  that  occasion  was 
the  bare  suggestion  that  the  United  States,  as  proof  of  her  friend 
ship,  might  make  a  loan  to  France  in  her  present  necessities,  by  way 
of  reciprocity  for  a  similar  loan  made  to  us  in  the  war  of  revolution, 
when  our  credit  and  very  existence  were  dependent  on  the  timely 
aid  then  extended  to  us  ;  that  the  demand  of  tribute  was  made  by  a 
couple  of  swindlers,  unconnected  with  the  Government,  who  had  im 
posed  on  the  credulity  of  our  envoys,  and  who,  in  fact,  encouraged 
the  intrigue,  that  they  might  make  political  capital,  in  order  to  cre 
ate  the  very  excitement  it  had  occasioned  ;  that  the  only  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  an  amicable  settlement  of  all  our  differences  with  France 
was  the  intemperate  speeches  of  the  President,  the  haughty,  reserved 
and  unconciliatory  temper  of  the  envoys  themselves  ;  that  France  had 
only  done  what  she  had  a  right  to  do  according  to  the  laws  of  nations, 
to  show  her  displeasure  to  ministers  plenipotentiary  who  were  disa 
greeable  to  her,  who  were  hostile  to  her  principles,  unfriendly  to  her 
Government,  and  of  such  a  temper  as  not  to  be  able  to  secure  her 
confidence ;  that  she  had  only  signified  her  desire  that  those  envoys 


THE  X.  Y.  Z.  BUSINESS.  119 

should  depart,  and  the  one  in  whom  she  had  confidence  might  remain, 
with  whom  she  was  ready  to  negotiate  on  terms  of  the  utmost  fair 
ness  and  equality.  'Twas  vain  to  state  the  plain  facts  to  an  excited 
multitude.  Millions  for  defence,  not  a  cent  for  tribute,  was  the  ready 
and  comprehensive  answer.  The  fever  was  up,  and  must  run  its 
course.  The  multitude  are  not  only  fond  of  broad  and  comprehen 
sive  phrases  that  will  serve  them  on  all  occasions,  and  save  the  neces 
sity  of  thought,  but  they  must  always  have  some  sign,  or  outward 
symbol  of  their  feelings.  On  this  occasion  the  black  cockade  of  Eng 
land  was  mounted  as  a  badge  of  hostility  to  the  tri-color  of  France. 
The  handwriting,  it  was  said,  -at  the  bottom  of  an  address  is  seen 
but  by  few  persons ;  whereas  a  cockade  will  be  seen  by  the  whole 
city,  by  the  friends  and  the  foes  of  the  wearer  ;  it  T,  ill  be  the  visible 
sign  of  the  sentiments  of  his  heart,  and  will  prove  that  he  is  not 
ashamed  to  avow  those  sentiments.  Persons  who  marched  to  the 
President's  house  to  present  their  warlike  addresses  were  encouraged 
to  wear  the  American  cockade.  Those  who  dare  not  designate  them 
selves,  they  were  told,  by  this  lasting  mark  of  resolution,  may,  indeed, 
walk  up  Market-street,  but  their  part  of  the  procession  will  only 
serve  to  recall  to  our  minds  the  old  battered  French  gasconade — 

"The  King  of  France,  with  forty  thousand  men, 
Marched  up  the  hill,  and  then — marched  down  again." 

Congress,  under  the  war-excitement,  passed  in  rapid  succession,  a 
stamp-act,  an  excise  law,  an  act,  entering  into  minute  and  vexatious 
details,  laying  a  direct  tax  on  lands,  slaves,  houses,  and  other  pro 
perty  ;  two  acts  authorizing  the  President  to  borrow  large  sums  of 
money  at  usurious  interest ;  several  acts  authorizing  the  purchasing 
of  vessels,  creating  a  naval  armament,  and  a  navy  department  in  the 
Government ;  acts  prohibiting  the  exportation  of  arms,  and  author 
izing  the  purchase  of  cannon,  and  the  fortification  of  ports  and  har 
bors  ;  acts  creating  additional  regiments  in  the  army,  augmenting 
those  in  existence,  and  authorizing  the  President  to  call  out  and  or 
ganize  a  provisional  army  of  ten  thousand  men,  if  in  his  opinion 
there  existed  an  imminent  danger  of  invasion ;  acts  prohibiting  all 
intercourse  with  France  or  her  dependencies,  and  authorizing  the 
capture  of  all  French  armed  vessels  ;  an  act  making  it  lawful  for  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  eause  all  such  aliens  as  he  shall 


120  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

judge  dangerous  to  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  United  States,  or 
shall  have  reasonable  grounds  to  suspect  are  concerned  in  any  trea 
sonable  or  secret  machinations  against  the  Government  thereof,  to 
depart  out  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States ;  and  an  act  declar 
ing,  that  if  any  person  shall  write,  print,  utter,  or  publish,  or  aid  in 
the  same,  any  false,  scandalous,  and  malicious  writings  against  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  Congress,  or  the  President,  with 
intent  to  defame,  or  bring  them  into  contempt  or  disrepute,  being 
thereof  convicted  before  any  court  of  the  United  States,  shall  be 
punished  by  fine  and  imprisonment.  To  crown  all  these  vast  mili 
tary  preparations,  General  Washington  was  appointed  Commander- 
in-chief  of  the  Army.  "  We  must  have  your  name,"  said  the  Presi 
dent,  in  a  letter  to  him,  "  if  you  will  in  any  way  permit  us  to  use  it. 
There  will  be  more  efficiency  in  it  than  in  many  an  army."  With 
out  waiting  for  an  answer,  on  the  2d  of  July  he  nominated  to  the 
Senate,  "  George  Washington,  of  Mount  Vernon,  to  be  Lieutenant- 
General  and  Commander-in-chief  of  all  the  armies,  raised  and  to  be 
raised  in  the  United  States." 

Washington  accepted  the  appointment ;  and  in  his  reply  to  the 
President,  said  :  "  It  was  not  possible  for  me  to  remain  ignorant  of, 
or  indifferent  to,  recent  transactions.  The  conduct  of  the  Directory 
of  France  towards  our  country,  their  insidious  hostilities  to  its  Gov 
ernment,  their  various  practices  to  withdraw  the  affections  of  the 
people  from  it,  the  evident  tendency  of  their  arts,  and  those  of  their 
agents^  to  countenance  and  invigorate  opposition,  their  disregard  of 
solemn  treaties  and  the  laws  of  nations,  their  war  upon  our  defence 
less  commerce,  their  treatment  of  our  minister  of  peace,  and  their: 
demands,  amounting  to  tribute,  could  not  fail  to  excite  in  me  corre 
sponding  sentiments  with  those  which  my  countrymen  had  so  gene 
rally  expressed  in  their  affectionate  addresses  to  you.  Believe  me, 
sir,  no  one  can  more  cordially  approve  of  the  wise  and  prudent  mea 
sures  of  your  administration.  They  ought  to  inspire  universal  confi- 
fidence,  and  will  no  doubt,  combined  with  the  state  of  things,  call 
from  Congress  such  laws  and  means  as  will  enable  you  to  meet  the 
full  force  and  extent  of  the  crisis.  Satisfied,  therefore,  that  you  have 
sincerely  wished  and  endeavored  to  avert  war,  and  exhausted  to  the 
last  drop  the  cup  of  reconciliation,  we  can  with  pure  hearts  appeal  to 
Heaven  for  the  justice  of  our  cause,  and  may  confidently  trust  the 


THE  X.  Y.  Z.  BUSINESS. 

final  result  to  that  kind  Providence,  which  has  heretofore,  and  so 
often,  signally  favored  the  people  of  these  United  States." 

The  war  excitement  was  kept  up  through  the  summer  and  au 
tumn.  The  republican  party  found  it  difficult  to  separate  in  the 
public  mind  the  principles  for  which  they  contended,  from  the  acts 
of  the  French  Directory.  Having  been  regarded  through  the  coun 
try  as  the  French  party,  they  had  now  to  bear  much  of  the  odium 
that  was  attached  to  the  French  cause.  The  war  fever  began  to 
abate  as  winter  approached.  Mr.  Gerry,  our  envoy,  who  remained 
in  France  after  the  departure  of  his  colleagues,  and  other  eminent 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  had  now  returned  from  Europe,  and 
reported  that  the  French  Directory  were  in  a  most  friendly  temper 
towards  the  United  States,  and  were  prepared  to  treat  with  any  min 
ister  they  might  send,  on  terms  of  perfect  reciprocity.  The  Virginia 
legislature,  early  in  the  session  of  1798-9,  passed  a  series  of  resolu 
tions  denouncing  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  as  unconstitutional. 
The  heavy  taxes  also  began  to  work  their  usual  effect  on  the  public 
mind.  It  was  soon  perceived  that  some  effort  must  be  made  to  pre 
vent  the  popular  current  from  turning  against  the  administration. 
The  great  object  was  to  keep  up  the  majority  in  Congress,  so  as  to 
continue  their  war  measures.  The  spring  elections  of  1799  were 
coming  on,  and  every  effort  was  made  by  both  sides  to  influence 
them.  It  was  perceived  that  the  future  destiny  of  the  country  de 
pended  on  the  result.  Virginia  was  the  great  battle-ground :  all 
eyes  were  turned  in  that  direction. 

There  was  the  stronghold  of  republicanism — there  were  its  re 
nowned  chiefs  to  be  found — Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  Giles, 
Taylor,  besides  a  host  of  others  of  less  fame,  but  equal  zeal  in 
the  cause.  There,  also,  was  Washington,  who  had  thrown  himself 
into  the  opposite  scale,  and,  with  energy,  exerted  all  his  influence 
to  give  preponderance  to  the  side  he  espoused.  No  man  did 
more  to  bring  out  influential  characters  to  represent  the  State,  both 
in  Congress  and  the  legislature.  "  At  such  a  crisis  as  this,"  said  he, 
"  when  every  thing  dear  and  valuable  to  us  is  assailed ;  when  this 
party  hangs  upon  the  wheels  of  government  as  a  dead  weight,  op 
posing  every  measure  that  is  calculated  for  defence  and  self  preserva 
tion  ;  abetting  the  nefarious  views  of  another  nation  upon  our  rights ; 
preferring,  as  long  as  they  dare  contend  openly  against  the  spirit  and 

VOL.  i.  6 


122  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

resentment  of  the  people,  the  interest  of  France  to  the  welfare  of 
their  own  country ;  justifying  the  former,  at  the  expense  of  the  lat 
ter  ;  when  every  act  of  their  own  government  is  tortured,  by  con 
structions  they  will  not  bear,  into  attempts  to  infringe  and  trample 
upon  the  constitution,  with  a  view  to  introduce  monarchy ;  when  the 
most  unceasing  and  the  purest  exertions,  which  were  making  to 
maintain  a  neutrality,  proclaimed  by  the  executive,  approved  un 
equivocally  by  Congress,  by  the  State  legislatures,  nay,  by  the 
people  themselves,  in  various  meetings,  and  to  preserve  the  country 
in  peace,  are  charged  with  being  measures  calculated  to  favor  Great 
Britain  at  the  expense  of  France  ;  and  all  those  who  had  any  agency 
in  it,  are  accused  of  being  under  the  influence  of  the  former,  and  her 
pensioners ;  when  measures  are  systematically  and  pertinaciously 
pursued,  which  must,  eventually,  dissolve  the  Union,  or  produce  co 
ercion;  I  say,  when  these  things  have  become  so  obvious,  ought 
characters  who  are  best  able  to  rescue  their  country  from  the  pend 
ing  evil,  to  remain  at  home  ?  Rather  ought  they  not  to  come  for 
ward,  and,  by  their  talents  and  influence,  stand  in  the  breach, 
which  such  conduct  has  made  on  the  peace  and  happiness  of  this 
country  ?" 

By  such  persuasions  as  this,  General  Lee  was  induced  to  offer 
himself  as  a  candidate  for  Congress  in  the  Westmoreland  district — 
Westmoreland,  the  birth-place  of  Washington  !  On  the  other  hand, 
by  the  persuasions  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  Dr.  Walter  Jones  came  out  in 
opposition  to  him.  The  canvass  between  these  two  champions  of 
adverse  wishes  and  sentiments,  was  very  animated.  In  colloquial 
eloquence  and  irony,  no  man  could  surpass  Dr.  Jones ;  but  he  was 
overmatched  by  his  antagonist,  in  popular  address  and  public  elo 
quence.  In  the  Richmond  district,  John  Clopton,  the  sitting  mem 
ber,  and  a  republican,  was  opposed  by  General  Marshall,  the  late 
envoy  to  France,  and,  by  all  odds,  the  ablest  champion  of  the 
federal  cause  in  Virginia.  But  the  great  field  of  contest — the  cita 
del  that  must  be  carried — was  the  State  legislature.  That  body  had 
recently  pronounced  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  unconstitutional. 
The  great  object  was  now  to  obtain  a  majority  to  reverse  that  de 
cision.  It  was  well  known  that  Mr.  Madison  would  be  in  the  next 
legislature,  with  his  matchless  logic,  to  develope,  explain  and  enforce 
the  doctrines  of  the  resolutions  recently  passed.  Some  one  must  be 


THE  X.  Y.  Z.  BUSINESS.  123 

found  to  oppose  him.  General  Washington  found  the  man — that 
man  was  Patrick  Henry.  And  by  him  the  trembling  old  warrior 
was  induced  to  buckle  on  the  harness  for  his  last  battle.  In  a  con 
fidential  letter,  dated  15th  January,  1799,  Washington  says:  "It 
would  be  a  waste  of  time  to  attempt  to  bring  to  the  view  of  a  person 
of  your  observation  and  discernment,  the  endeavors  of  a  certain 
party  among  us  to  disquiet  the  public  mind  with  unfounded  alarms; 
to  arraign  every  act  of  the  administration  ;  to  set  the  people  at  vari 
ance  with  their  government ;  and  to  embarrass  all  its  measures. 
Equally  useless  would  it  be  to  predict  what  must  be  the  inevitable 
consequences  of  such  a  policy,  if  it  cannot  be  arrested.  Unfortu 
nately,  and  extremely  do  I  regret  it,  the  State  of  Virginia  has  taken 
the  lead  in  this  opposition.  I  have  said  the  State,  because  the  con 
duct  of  its  legislature  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  will  authorize  the  ex 
pression.  I  come  now,  my  good  sir,  to  the  object  of  my  letter,  which 
is  to  express  the  hope,  and  an  earnest  wish,  that  you  will  come  for 
ward  at  the  ensuing  elections  (if  not  for  Congress,  which  you  may 
think  would  take  you  too  long  from  home)  as  a  candidate  for  repre 
sentative  in  the  General  Assembly  of  this  Commonwealth.  Your 
weight  of  character  and  influence  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
would  be  a  bulwark  against  such  dangerous  sentiments  as  are  de 
livered  there  at  present.  It  would  be  a  rallying-point  for  the  timid, 
and  an  attraction  for  the  wavering.  In  a  word,  I  conceive  it  to  be  of 
immense  importance,  at  this  crisis,  that  you  should  be  there ;  and  I 
would  fain  hope  that  all  minor  considerations  will  be  made  to  yield 
to  the  measure."  All  minor  considerations  were  made  to  yield  ;  and 
the  old  veteran,  bowed  with  age  and  disease,  was  announced  as  a  can 
didate  to  represent  the  county  of  Charlotte  in  the  General  Assembly 
of  Virginia.  Powhatan  Boiling  was  the  candidate  for  Congress,  on 
the  federal  side  ;  he  was  opposed  by  John  Randolph.  On  March 
court  day,  Patrick  Henry  and  John  Randolph  met,  for  the  first  time, 
on  the  hustings  at  Charlotte  Court  House — the  one  the  champion 
of  the  Federal — the  other  the  champion  of  the  Republican  cause. 


124  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 


CHAPTEE   XX. 

PATKICK   HENRY. 

PATRICK  HENRY,  the  advocate  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  the 
defender  of  federal  measures  leading  to  consolidation !  Let  the 
reader  look  back  and  contemplate  his  course  in  the  Virginia  Con 
vention,  called  to  ratify  the  Constitution — let  him  hear  the  eloquent 
defence  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  which  had  borne  us  safely 
through  so  many  perils,  and  which  needed  only  amendment,  not 
annihilation — let  him  witness  the  ardent  devotion  to  the  State  gov 
ernment  as  the  bulwark  of  liberty — the  uncompromising  opposition 
to  the  new  Government,  its  consolidation,  its  destruction  of  State 
independence,  its  awful  squinting  towards  monarchy — let  him  behold 
the  vivid  picture  drawn  by  the  orator  of  the  patriot  of  seventy-six^ 
and  the  citizen  of  eighty-eight;  then  it  was  liberty,  give  me  liberty  ! 
now  the  cry  was  energy,  energy,  give  me  a  strong  and  energetic 
government — then  let  him  turn  and  see  the  same  man,  in  little  more 
than  ten  years,  stand  forth,  his  prophecies  all  tending  to  rapid  fulfil 
ment,  the  advocate  of  the  principles,  the  defender  of  the  measures 
that  had  so  agitated  his  mind  and  awakened  his  fears— let  the  reader 
meditate  on  these  things,  and  have  charity  for  the  mutations  of 
political  opinion  in  his  own  day,  which  he  so  often  unfeelingly 
denounces. 

It  is  true  that  Patrick  Henry  had  been  in  retirement  since  the 
adoption  of  the  new  Constitution,  and  had  no  part  in  the  organization 
of  those  parties  which  had  arisen  under  it,  but  it  is  certain  that  they 
took  their  origin  in  those  principles  which  on  the  one  side  he  so  elo 
quently  defended,  and  on  the  other  so  warmly  deprecated.  Federal 
ist  and  Republican  were  names  unknown  in  his  day  ;  but  from  his 
past  history  no  one  could  mistake  the  inclination  of  his  feelings,  or 
the  conclusions  of  his  judgment  on  the  great  events  transpiring 
around  him.  Up  to  1795  he  was  known  to  be  on  the  republican  side. 
In  a  letter,  dated  the  27th  of  June  in  that  year,  he  says:  «  Since  the 
adoption  of  the  present  Constitution  I  have  generally  moved  in  a 
narrow  circle.  But  in  that  I  have  never  omitted  to  inculeate  a  strict 


PATRICK  HENRY.  125 

adherence  to  the  principles  of  it Although  a  democrat 

myself,  I  like  not  the  late  democratic  societies.  As  little  do  I  like 
their  suppression  by  law."  On  another  occasion  he  writes :  "  The 
treaty  (Jay's  treaty)  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  very  bad  one  indeed  .... 
Sure  I  am,  my  first  principle  is,  that  from  the  British  we  have  every 
thing  to  dread,  when  opportunities  of  oppressing  us  shall  offer." 
He  then  proceeds  to  express  his  concern  at  the  abusive  manner  in 
which  his  old  commander-in-chief  was  treated ;  and  that  his  long  and 
great  services  were  not  remembered  as  an  apology  for  his  mistakes 
in  an  office  to  which  he  was  totally  unaccustomed. 

A  man  of  his  talents,  his  eloquence,  his  weight  of  character  and 
influence  in  the  State,  was  well  worth  gaining  over  to  the  side  of  the 
administration.  Some  of  the  first  characters  in  Virginia  undertook 
to  accomplish  that  end.  Early  in  the  summer  of  1794,  General  Lee, 
then  governor  of  Virginia,  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces 
ordered  out  against  the  whisky  insurrection,  had  frequent  and 
earnest  conferences  with  him  on  public  affairs.  He  was  at  first  very 
impracticable.  It  seems  that  the  old  man  had  been  informed  that 
General  Washington,  in  passing  through  the  State  on  his  return  from 
the  South  in  the  summer  of  1791,  while  speaking  of  Mr.  Henry  on 
several  occasions,  considered  him  a  factious  and  seditious  character. 
General  Lee  undertook  to  remove  these  impressions,  and  combated 
his  opinions  as  groundless  ;  but  his  endeavors  were  unavailing.  He 
seemed  to  be  deeply  and  sorely  affected.  General  Washington  de 
nied  the  charge.  All  he  had  said  on  the  occasion  alluded  to  was, 
that  he  had  heard  Mr.  Henry  was  acquiescent  in  his  conduct,  and 
that,  though  he  could  not  give  up  his  opinion  respecting  the  Consti 
tution,  yet,  unless  he  should  be  called  upon  by  official  duty,  he  would 
express  no  sentiment  unfriendly  to  the  exercise  of  the  powers  of  ar 
government,  which  had  been  chosen  by  a  majority  of  the  people. 

It  was  a  long  time  before  General  Lee  had  an  opportunity  of 
communicating  to  Mr.  Henry  the  kind  feelings  of  Washington  to 
wards  him.  In  June,  1795,  about  a  year  after  the  subject  had  been 
broached  to  him,  Mr.  Henry  writes  :  "  Every  insinuation  that  taught 
me  to  believe  I  had  forfeited  the  good  will  of  that  personage,  to 
whom  the  world  had  agreed  to  ascribe  the  appellation  of  good  and 
great,  must  needs  give  me  pain  ;  particularly  as  he  had  opportunities 
of  knowing  my  character  both  in  public  and  in  private  life.  The  inti* 


126  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

mation  now  given  me,  that  there  was  no  ground  to  believe  I  had 
incurred  his  censure,  gives  very  great  pleasure."  In  inclosing  Mr. 
Henry's  letter  to  General  Washington  for  perusal,  Lee  thus  writes 
(17th  July,  1795):  "I  am  very  confident  that  Mr.  Henry  possesses 
the  highest  and  truest  regard  for  you,  and  that  he  continues  friendly 
to  the  General  Government,  notwithstanding  the  unwearied  efforts 
applied  for  the  end  of  uniting  him  to  the  opposition  ;  and  I  must 
think  he  would  be  an  important  official  acquisition  to  the  Govern 
ment." 

One  month  and  two  days  from  this  date  (19th  August)  as  the 
reader  remembers,  Edmund  Randolph  resigned  the  office  of  Secre 
tary  of  State.  On  the  9th  of  October  it  was  tendered  to  Patrick 
Henry.  In  his  letter  of  invitation  General  Washington  stated  that 
the  office  had  been  offered  to  others  ;  but  it  was  from  a  conviction 
that  he  would  not  accept  it.  But  in  a  conversation  with  General 
Lee,  that  gentleman  dropped  sentiments  that  made  it  less  doubtful. 
"  I  persuade  myself,  sir,"  said  the  President,  "  it  has  not  escaped 
your  observation  that  a  crisis  is  approaching  that  must,  if  it  cannot 
be  arrested,  soon  decide  whether  order  and  good  government  shall 
be  preserved,  or  anarchy  and  confusion  ensue." 

This  letter  of  invitation  was  inclosed  to  Mr.  Carrington,  a  confi 
dential  friend  of  Washington,  with  instructions  to  hold  it  back  till 
he  could  hear  from  Colonel  Innis,  to  whom  the  attorney-generalship 
had  been  offered.  But  on  consultation  with  General  Marshall,  ano 
ther  confidential  friend,  they  were  so  anxious  to  make  an  impression 
on  Patrick  Henry,  and  gain  him  over,  if  possible,  by  those  marks  ot 
confidence,  that  they  disobeyed  orders,  reversed  the  order  in  which 
the  letters  were  to  be  sent,  and  dispatched  Mr.  Henry's  first,  by  ex 
press. 

"  In  this  determination  we  were  governed,"  say  they,  "  by  the  fol 
lowing  reasons."  (We  give  the  reasons  entire,  that  the  reader  may 
see  that  great  men  and  statesmen  in  those  days  were  influenced  by  the 
same  motives  they  are  now,  and  that  men  are  the  same  in  every  age.) 
"  First,  his  non-acceptance,  from  domestic  considerations  may  be  cal 
culated  on.  In  this  event,  be  his  sentiments  on  either  point  what 
they  may,  he  will  properly  estimate  your  letter,  and  if  he  has  any 
asperities,  it  must  tend  to  soften  them,  and  render  him,  instead  of  a 
silent  observer  of  the  present  tendency  of  things,  in  some  degree 


PATRICK  HENRY.  127 

active  on  the  side  of  government  and  order.  Secondly,  should  he 
feel  an  inclination  to  go  into  the  office  proposed,  we  are  confident — 
very  confident — he  has  too  high  a  sense  of  honor  to  do  so  with  senti 
ments  hostile  to  either  of  the  points  in  view.  This  we  should  rely 
on,  upon  general  grounds  ;  but  under  your  letter  a  different  conduct 
is,  we  conceive  from  our  knowledge  *of  Mr.  Henry,  impossible. 
Thirdly,  we  are  fully  persuaded  that  a  more  deadly  blow  could  not 
be  given  to  the  faction  in  Virginia,  and  perhaps  elsewhere,  than  that 
gentleman's  acceptance  of  the  office  in  question,  convinced  as  we  are 
of  the  sentiments  he  must  carry  with  him.  So  much  have  the  op- 
posers  of  government  held  him  up  as  their  oracle,  even  since  he  has 
ceased  to  respond  to  them,  that  any  event  demonstrating  his  active 
support  to  government  could  not  but  give  the  party  a  severe  shock." 

A  very  good  reason  for  disobeying  instructions,  and  making  the 
first  demonstration  on  so  important  a  personage.  Mr.  Henry  did  not 
accept  the  appointment,  but  the  impression  intended  to  be  made  was 
nearly  as  complete  as  the  parties  intended. 

"  It  gives  us  pleasure  to  find,"  says  Mr.  Carrington,  "  that 
although  Mr.  Henry  is  rather  to  be  understood  as  probably  not  an 
approver  of  the  treaty,  his  conduct  and  sentiments  generally,  both  as 
to  the  government  and  yourself,  are  such  as  we  calculated  on,  and  that 
he  received  your  letter  with  impresssions  which  assure  us  of  his  dis 
countenancing  calumny  and  disorder  of  every  description." 

These  great  movements  somehow  got  wind,  and  came  to  the 
ears  of  the  leader  of  the  faction  they  were  designed  to  crush.  In  a 
letter  addressed  to  Monroe,  dated  July  10th,  1796,  Jefferson  says : 
"  Most  assiduous  court  is  paid  to  Patrick  Henry.  He  has  been 
offered  every  thing,  which  they  knew  he  would  not  accept.  Some 
impression  is  thought  to  be  made :  but  we  do  not  believe  it  is  radi 
cal.  If  they  thought  they  could  count  upon  him,  they  would  run 
him  for  their  Vice-President,  their  first  object  being  to  produce  a 
schism  in  this  State."  A  move  was  now  made  to  prevent  the  old 
man  from  going  over  altogether.  In  November  following,  the 
democratic  legislature  of  Virginia  elected  him,  for  the  third  time, 
governor  of  the  State.  In  his  letter  declining  an  acceptance  of 
the  office,  he  merely  expresses  his  acknowledgments  and  grati 
tude  for  the  signal  honor  conferred  on  him,  excuses  himself  on  the 
ground  that  he  could  not  persuade  himself  that  his  abilities  were 


128  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

commensurate  to  the  duties  of  the  office,  but  let  fall  no  expression 
that  could  indicate  his  present  political  inclinations. 

Early  in  January,  1799,  soon  after  the  passage  of  the  resolutions 
declaring  the  alien  and  sedition  laws  unconstitutional,  and  before  he 
had  received  the  letter  from  Washington  urging  him  to  become  a  can 
didate  for  the  Virginia  legislature,  Patrick  Henry,  in  writing  to  a 
friend,  thus  expresses  himself :  "  There  is  much  cause  for  lamenta 
tion  over  the  present  state  of  things  in  Virginia.  It  is  possible  that 
most  of  the  individuals  who  compose  the  contending  factions  are  sin 
cere,  and  act  from  honest  motives.  But  it  is  more  than  probable 
that  certain  leaders  meditate  a  change  in  government.  To  effect  this, 
I  see  no  way  so  practicable  as  dissolving  the  confederacy  ;  and  I  am 
free  to  own  that,  in  my  judgment,  most  of  the  measures  lately  pur 
sued  by  the  opposition  party  directly  and  certainly  lead  to  that  end. 
If  this  is  not  the  system  of  the  party,  they  have  none,  and  act  ex- 
tempore" 

In  February  following,  the  President  nominated  Mr.  Henry  as 
one  of  the  Envoys  Extraordinary  and  Ministers  Plenipotentiary  to 
the  French  Republic.  Perhaps  the  very  day  he  appeared  before  the 
people  at  Charlotte  Court,  he  held  the  commission  in  his  pocket.  In 
his  letter  declining  the  appointment,  he  says :  "  That  nothing  short 
of  absolute  necessity  could  induce  me  to  withhold  my  little  aid  from 
an  administration  whose  abilities,  patriotism,  and  virtue,  deserve  the 
gratitude  and  reverence  of  all  their  fellow-citizens." 

In  March,  eighty-nine,  Deems  said,  I  want  to  crush  that  anti- 
federal  champion — the  cunning  and  deceitful  Cromwell,  who,  under 
the  guise  of  amendment,  seeks  to  destroy  the  Constitution,  break  up 
the  confederacy,  and  reign  the  tyrant  of  popularity  over  his  own  de 
voted  Virginia.  In  ninety-nine,  we  find  this  anti-federal  champion 
veered  round  to  the  support  of  doctrines  he  once  condemned,  and 
given  in  his  allegiance  to  an  administration,  which  a  majority  of  his 
countrymen  had  declared,  and  all  those  who  had  followed  him  as 
their  oracle  declared,  was  rapidly  hastening  the  Government  into 
consolidation  and  monarchy. 

Let  no  man  boast  of  his  consistency.  Such  is  the  subtlety  of 
human  motives,  that,  like  a  deep,  unseen  under-current,  they  uncon 
sciously  glide  us  into  a  position  to-day  different  from  that  we  occu 
pied  yesterday,  while  we  perceive  it  not,  and  stoutly  deny  it. 


MARCH  COURT.  129 

Patrick  Henry  for  years  was  sorely  afflicted  with  the  belief  that 
the  greatest  and  best  of  mankind  considered  him  a  factious  and  sedi 
tious  character :  to  disabuse  the  mind  of  Washington,  whose  good 
opinion  all  men  desired — to  justify  the  flattering  attentions  of  tnose 
distinguished  men  who  had  assiduously  cultivated  his  society  and 
correspondence,  and  showered  bright  honors  on  his  head,  he  uncon 
sciously  receded  from  his  old  opinions,  and  embraced  doctrines 
which  he  had,  with  the  clearness  and  power  of  a  Hebrew  prophet, 
portrayed  and  made  bare  in  all  their  naked  deformity. 


CHAPTEE    XXI. 

MARCH   COURT — THE    RISING-  AND   THE   SETTING   SUN. 

IT  was  soon  noised  abroad  that  Patrick  Henry  was  to  address  the 
people  at  March  Court.  Great  was  the  political  excitement — still 
greater  the  anxiety  to  hear  the  first  orator  of  the  age  for  the  last  time. 
They  came  from  far  and  near,  with  eager  hope  depicted  on  every 
countenance.  It  was  a  treat  that  many  had  not  enjoyed  for 
years.  Much  the  largest  portion  of  those  who  flocked  together  that 
day,  had  only  heard  from  the  glowing  lips  of  their  fathers  the  won 
derful  powers  of  the  man  they  were  about  to  see  and  hear  for  the  first 
time.  The  college  in  Prince  Edward  was  emptied  not  only  of  its 
students,  but  of  its  professors.  Dr.  Moses  Hogj/e,  John  H.  Rice, 
Drury  Lacy,  eloquent  men  and  learned  divines,  came  up  to  enjoy  the 
expected  feast.  The  young  man  who  was  to  answer  Mr.  Henry,  if 
indeed  the  multitude  suspected  that  any  one  would  dare  venture  on 
a  reply,  was  unknown  to  fame.  A  tall,  slender,  effeminate  looking 
youth  was  he  ;  light  hair,  combed  back  into  a  well-adjusted  cue — pale 
countenance,  a  beardless  chin,  bright  quick  hazel  eye,  blue  frock,  buff 
small  clothes,  and  fair-top  boots.  He  was  doubtless  known  to  many 
on  the  court  green  as  the  little  Jack  Randolph  they  had  frequently 
seen  dashing  by  on  wild  horses,  riding  a  la  mode  Anglais,  from 
Roanoke  to  Bizarre,  and  back  from  Bizarre  to  Roanoke.  A  few 
knew  him  more  intimately,  but  none  had  ever  heard  him  speak  in 
6* 


130  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

public,  or  even  suspected  that  he  could  make  a  speech.  "  My  first 
attempt  at  public  speaking,"  says  he,  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Bryan,  his 
niece,  "  was  in  opposition  to  Patrick  Henry  at  Charlotte  Marc^  Court, 
1799  ;  for  neither  of  us  was  present  at  the  election  in  April,  as  Mr. 
Wirt  avers  of  Mr.  Henry."  The  very  thought  of  his  attempting  to 
answer  Mr.  Henry,  seemed  to  strike  the  grave  and  reflecting  men  of 
the  place  as  preposterous.  "  Mr.  Taylor,"  said  Col.  Reid,  the  clerk 
of  the  county,  to  Mr.  Creed  Taylor,  a  friend  and  neighbor  of  Ran 
dolph,  and  a  good  lawyer,  "  Mr.  Taylor,  don't  you  or  Peter  Johnson 
mean  to  appear  for  that  young  man  to-day  ?"  "  Never  mind,"  re 
plied  Taylor,  "  he  can  take  care  of  himself:"  His  friends  knew  his 
powers,  his  fluency  in  conversation,  his  ready  wit,  his  polished  satire, 
his  extraordinary  knowledge  of  men  and  affairs ;  but  still  he  was 
about  to  enter  on  an  untried  field,  and  all  those  brilliant  faculties 
might  fail  him,  as  they  had  so  often  failed  men  of  genius  before. 
They  might  well  have  felt  some  anxiety  on  his  first  appearance  upon 
the  hustings  in  presence  of  a  popular  assembly,  and  in  reply  to  a  man 
of  Mr.  Henry's  reputation.  But  it  seems  they  had  no  fear  for  the 
result — he  can  take  care  of  himself.  The  reader  can  well  imagine 
the  remarks  that  might  have  been  made  by  the  crowd  as  he  passed 
carelessly  among  them,  shaking  hands  with  this  one  and  that  one  of 
his  acquaintance.  "  And  is  that  the  man  who  is  a  candidate  for  Con 
gress?"  "Is  he  going  to  speak  against  Old  Pat?"  "Why,  he  is 
nothing  but  a  boy — he's  got  no  beard  !"  "  He  looks  wormy  !"  "  Old 
Pat  will  eat  him  up  bodily !"  There,  also,  was  Powhatan  Boiling, 
the  other  candidate  for  Congress,  dressed  in  his  scarlet  coat — tall, 
proud  in  his  bearing,  and  a  fair  representative  of  the  old  aristocracy 
fast  melting  away  under  the  subdivisions  of  the  law  that  had  abolished 
the  system  of  primogeniture: 

Creed  Taylor  and  others  undertook  to  banter  him  about  his 
scarlet  coat.  "  Very  well,  gentlemen,"  replied  he  coolly,  bristling 
up  with  a  quick  temper,  "  if  my  coat  does  not  suit  you,  I  can  meet, 
you  in  any  other  color  that  may  suit  your  fancy."  Seeing  the  gen 
tleman  not  in  a  bantering  mood,  he  was  soon  left  to  his  own  reflec 
tions.  But  the  candidates  for  Congress  were  overlooked  and  forgot 
ten  by  the  crowd  in  their  eagerness  to  behold  and  admire  the  great 
orator,  whose  fame  had  filled  their  imagination  for  so  many  years. 
"  As  soon  as  he  appeared  on  the  ground,"  says  Wirt,  "  he  was  sur- 


MARCH  COURT. 

rounded  by  the  admiring  and  adoring  crowd,  and  whithersoever  he 
moved,  the  concourse  followed  him.  A  preacher  of  the  Baptist 
church,  whose  piety  was  wounded  by  this  homage  paid  to  a  mortal, 
asked  the  people  aloud,  why  they  thus  followed  Mr.  Henry  about  ? 
"  Mr.  Henry,"  said  he,  u  is  not  a  god  !"  "  No,"  said  Mr.  Henry,  deeply 
affected  by  the  scene  and  the  remark,  "  no,  indeed,  my  friend ;  I  am 
but  a  poor  worm  of  the  dust — as  fleeting  and  unsubstantial  as  the 
shadow  of  the  cloud  that  flies  over  your  fields,  and  is  remembered 
no  more."  The  tone  with  which  this  was  uttered,  and  the  look  which 
accompanied  it,  affected  every  heart,  and  silenced  every  voice. 

Presently  James  Adams  rose  upon  a  platform  that  had  been 
erected  by  the  side  of  the  tavern  porch  where  Mr.  Henry  was  seated, 
and  proclaimed — "  0  yes  !  O  yes  !  Colonel  Henry  will  address  the 
people  from  this  stand,  for  the  last  time  and  at  the  risk  of  his  life !" 
The  grand-jury  were  in  session  at  the  moment,  they  burst  through 
the  doors,  some  leaped  the  windows,  and  came  running  up  with  the 
crowd,  that  they  might  not  lose  a  word  that  fell  from  the  old  man's 
lips. 

While  Adams  was  lifting  him  on  the  stand,  "  Why  Jimmy,"  says 
he,  "  you  have  made  a  better  speech  for  me  than  I  can  make  for  my 
self."  "  Speak  out,  father,"  said  Jimmy,  "  and  let  us  hear  how  it  is." 

Old  and  feeble,  more  with  disease  than  age,  Mr.  Henry  rose  and 
addressed  the  people  to  the  following  effect : — (Wirt's  Life  of  Patrick 
Henry,  page  393.)  He  told  them  that  the  late  proceedings  of  the 
Virginia  Assembly  had  filled  him  with  apprehensions  and  alarm ; 
that  they  had  planted  thorns  upon  his  pillow ;  that  they  had  drawn 
him  from  that  happy  retirement  which  it  had  pleased  a  bountiful 
Providence  to  bestow,  and  in  which  he  had  hoped  to  pass,  in  quiet, 
the  remainder  of  his  days  ;  that  the  State  had  quitted  the  sphere  in 
which  she  had  been  placed  by  the  Constitution  ;  and  in  daring  to 
pronounce  upon  the  validity  of  federal  laws,  had  gone  out  of  her 
jurisdiction  in  a  manner  not  warranted  by  any  authority,  and  in  the 
highest  degree  alarming  to  every  considerate  mind ;  that  such  oppo 
sition,  on  the  part  of  Virginia,  to  the  acts  of  the  General  Govern 
ment,  must  beget  their  enforcement  by  military  power  ;  that  this 
would  probably  produce  civil  war ;  civil  war,  foreign  alliances ;  and 
that  foreign  alliances  must  necessarily  end  in  subjugation  to  the 
powers  called  in.  He  conjured  the  people  to  pause  and  consider 


132  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

well,  before  they  rushed  into  such  a  desperate  condition,  from  which 
there  could  be  no  retreat.  He  painted  to  their  imaginations,  Wash 
ington,  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  and  well  appointed  army,  inflict 
ing  upon  them  military  execution.  "  And  where  (he  asked)  are  our 
resources  to  meet  such  a  conflict  ?  Where  is  the  citizen  of  America 
who  will  dare  to  lift  his  hand  against  the  father  of  his  country  ?"  A 
drunken  man  in  the  crowd  threw  up  his  arm  and  exclaimed  that  he 
dared  to  do  it.  "  No,"  answered  Mr.  Henry,  rising  aloft  in  all  his 
majesty.  '  you  dare  not  do  it ;  in  such  a  parricidal  attempt,  the  steel 
would  drop  from  your  nerveless  arm.'1 

Proceeding,  he  asked  "  Whether  the  county  of  Charlotte  would 
have  any  authority  to  dispute  an  obedience  to  the  laws  of  Virginia :" 
and  he  pronounced  Virginia  to  be  to  the  Union  what  the  county  of 
Charlotte  was  to  her.  Having  denied  the  right  of  a  State  to  decide 
upon  the  constitutionality  of  federal  laws,  he  added,  that  perhaps  it 
might  be  necessary  to  say  something  of  the  laws  in  question.  His 
private  opinion  was,  that  they  were  good  and  proper.  But  whatever 
might  be  their  merits,  it  belonged  to  the  people,  who  held  the  reins 
over  the  head  of  Congress,  and  to  them  alone,  to  say  whether  they 
were  acceptable  or  otherwise  to  Virginians  ;  and  that  this  must  be 
done  by  way  of  petition.  That  Congress  were  as  much  our  represen 
tatives  as  the  Assembly,  and  had  as  good  a  right  to  our  confidence. 
He  had  seen,  with  regret,  the  unlimited  power  over  the  purse  and 
sword  consigned  to  the  General  Government ;  but  that  he  had  been 
overruled,  and  it  was  now  necessary  to  submit  to  the  constitutional 
exercise  of  that  power.  "  If,"  said  he,  "I  am  asked  what  is  to  be 
done  when  a  people  feel  themselves  intolerably  oppressed,  my  answer 
is  ready — overturn  the  Government.  But  do  not,  I  beseech  you, 
carry  matters  to  this  length  without  provocation.  Wait,  at  least, 
until  some  infringement  is  made  upon  your  rights,  and  which  cannot 
otherwise  be  redressed ;  for  if  ever  you  recur  to  another  change,  you 
may  bid  adieu  forever  to  representative  government.  You  can  never 
exchange  the  present  government  but  for  a  monarchy.  If  the  admin 
istration  have  done  wrong,  let  us  all  go  wrong  together  rather  than 
split  into  factions,  which  must  destroy  that  Union  upon  which  our 
existence  hangs.  Let  us  preserve  our  strength  for  the  French,  the 
English,  the  Germans,  or  whoever  else  shall  dare  to  .invade  our  terri 
tory,  and  not  exhaust  it  in  civil  commotions  and  intestine  wars." 


MARCH  COURT.  133 

When  he  concluded,  his  audience  were  deeply  affected  ;  it  is  said  that 
they  wept  like  children,  so  powerfully  were  they  moved  by  the  em 
phasis  of  his  language,  the  tone  of  his  voice,  the  commanding  expres 
sion  of  his  eye,  the  earnestness  with  which  he  declared  his  design  to 
exert  himself  to  allay  the  heart-burnings  and  jealousies  which  had 
been  fomented  in  the  State  legislature,  and  the  fervent  manner  in 
which  he  prayed  that  if  he  were  deemed  unworthy  to  effect  it,  that  it 
might  be  reserved  to  some  other  and  abler  hand  to  extend  this  bless 
ing  over  the  community.  As  he  concluded,  he  literally  sunk  into 
the  arms  of  the  tumultuous  throng :  at  that  moment  John  H.  Rice 
exclaimed,  "  the  sun  has  set  in  all  his  glory  !" 

Randolph  rose  to  reply.  For  some  moments  he  stood  in  silence, 
his  lips  quivering,  his  eye  swimming  in  tears ;  at  length  he  began  a 
modest  though  beautiful  apology  for  rising  to  address  the  people  in 
opposition  to  the  venerable  father  who  had  just  taken  his  seat;  it 
was  an  honest  difference  of  opinion,  and  he  hoped  to  be  pardoned 
while  he  boldly  and  freely,  as  it  became  the  occasion,  expressed  his 
sentiments  on  the  great  questions  that  so  much  divided  and  agitated 
the  minds  of  the  people. 

"  The  gentleman  tells  you,"  said  he,  "  that  the  late  proceedings 
of  the  Virginia  Assembly  have  filled  him  with  apprehension  and 
alarm.  He  seems  to  be  impressed  with  the  conviction,  that  the  State 
has  quitted  the  sphere  in  which  she  was  placed  by  the  Constitution ; 
and  in  daring  to  pronounce  on  the  validity  of  federal  laws,  has  gone 
out  of  her  jurisdiction  in  a  manner  not  warranted  by  any  authority. 
I  am  sorry  the  gentleman  has  been  disturbed  in  his  repose  ;  still 
more  grieved  am  I,  that  the  particular  occasion  to  which  he  alludes 
should  have  been  the  cause  of  his  anxiety.  I  once  cherished  the 
hope  that  his  alarms  would  have  been  awakened,  had  Virginia  failed 
to  exert  herself  in  warding  off  the  evils  he  so  prophetically  warned 
us  of  on  another  memorable  occasion.  Her  supineness  and  inactivity, 
now  that  those  awful  squintings  towards  monarchy,  so  eloquently 
described  by  the  gentleman,  are  fast  growing  into  realities,  I  had 
hoped  would  have  planted  thorns  in  his  pillow,  and  awakened  him  to 
a  sense  of  the  danger  now  threatening  us,  and  the  necessity  of  exert 
ing  once  more  his  powerful  faculties  in  warning  the  people,  and 
rousing  them  from  their  fatal  lethargy. 

"  Has  the  gentleman  forgotten  that  we  owe  to  him  those  obnox- 


134  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

ious  principles,  as  he  now  would  have  them,  that  guided  the  Legisla 
ture  in  its  recent  course  ?  He  is  alarmed  at  the  rapid  growth  of 
the  seed  he  himself  hath  sowed — he  seems  to  be  disappointed 
that  they  fell,  not  by  the  wayside,  but  into  vigorous  and  fruitful 
soil.  He  has  conjured  up  spirits  from  the  vasty  deep,  and  growing 
alarmed  at  the  potency  of  his  own  magic  wand,  he  would  say  to  them, 
1  Down,  wantons  !  down  !'  but,  like  Banquo's  ghost,  I  trust  they  will 
not  down.  But  to  drop  metaphor — In  the  Virginia  Convention, 
that  was  called  to  ratify  the  Constitution,  this  gentleman  dtclared 
that  the  government  delineated  in  that  instrument  was  peculiar  in 
its  nature — partly  national,  partly  federal.  In  this  description  he  hit 
upon  the  true  definition — there  are  certain  powers  of  a  national  cha 
racter  that  extend  to  the  people  and  operate  on  them  without  regard 
to  their  division  into  States — these  powers,  acting  a\one,  tend  to 
consolidate  the  government  into  one  head,  and  to  obliterate  State 
divisions  and  to  destroy  State  authority ;  but  there  are  other  powers, 
many  and  important  ones,  that  are  purely  federal  in  their  nature — 
that  look  to  the  States,  and  recognize  their  existence  as  bodies  poli 
tic,  endowed  with  many  of  the  most  important  attributes  of  sove 
reignty.  These  two  opposing  forces  act  as  checks  on  each  other,  and 
keep  the  complicated  system  in  equilibrium.  They  are  like  the  cen 
trifugal  and  centripetal  forces  in  the  law  of  gravitation,  that  serve  to 
keep  the  spheres  in  their  harmonious  courses  through  the  universe. 

"  Should  the  Federal  Government,  therefore,  attempt  to  exercise 
powers  that  do  not  belong  to  it — and  those  that  do  belong  to  it  are 
few,  specified,  well-defined — all  others  being  reserved  to  the  people 
and  to  the  States — should  it  step  beyond  its  province,  and  encroach 
on  rights  that  have  not  been  delegated,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  States  to 
interpose.  There  is  no  other  power  that  can  interpose.  The  counter 
weight,  the  opposing  force  of  the  State,  is  the  only  check  to  over- 
action  known  to  the  system. 

"  In  questions  of  meum  et  tuum,  where  rights  of  property  are  con 
cerned,  and  some  other  cases  specified  in  the  Constitution,  I  grant  you 
that  the  Federal  Judiciary  may  pronounce  on  the  validity  of  the  law. 
But  in  questions  involving  the  right  to  power,  whether  this  or  that 
power  has  been  delegated  or  reserved,  they  cannot  and  ought  not  to 
be  the  arbiter ;  that  question  has  been  left,  as  it  always  was,  and 
always  must  be  left,  to  be  determined  among  sovereignties  in  the  best 


MARCH  COURT.  135 

way  they  can.  Political  wisdom  has  not  yet  discovered  any  infallible 
mathematical  rule,  by  which  to  determine  the  assumptions  of  power 
between  those  who  know  no  other  law  or  limitation  save  that  imposed 
on  them  by  their  own  consent,  and  which  they  can  abrogate  at 
pleasure.  Pray  let  me  ask  the  gentleman — and  no  one  knows  bet 
ter  than  himself — who  ordained  this  Constitution  ?  Who  defined  its 
powers,  and  said,  thus  far  shalt  thou  go,  but  no  farther  ?  Was  it  not 
the  people  of  the  States  in  their  sovereign  capacity  ?  Did  they  com 
mit  an  act  of  suicide  by  so  doing  ? — an  act  of  self-annihilation  ?  No, 
thank  God,  they  did  not ;  but  are  still  alive,  and,  I  trust,  are  be 
coming  sensible  of  the  importance  of  those  rights  reserved  to  them, 
and  prohibited  to  that  government  which  they  ordained  for  their 
common  defence.  Shall  the  creature  of  the  States  be  the  sole  judge 
of  the  legality  or  constitutionality  of  its  own  acts,  in  a  question  of 
power  between  them  and  the  States  ?  Shall  they  who  assert  a  right, 
be  the  sole  judges  of  their  authority  to  claim  and  to  exercise  it? 
Does  not  all  power  seek  to  enlarge  itself? — grow  on  that  it  feeds 
upon  ?  Has  not  that  been  the  history  of  all  encroachment,  all  usurpa 
tion  ?  If  this  Federal  Government,  in  all  its  departments,  then,  is  to 
be  the  sole  judge  of  its  own  usurpations,  neither  the  people  nor  the 
States,  in  a  short  time,  will  have  any  thing  to  contend  for;  this 
creature  of  their  making  will  become  their  sovereign,  and  the  only 
result  of  the  labors  of  our  revolutionary  heroes,  in  which  patriotic 
band  this  venerable  gentleman  was  most  conspicuous,  will  have  been 
a  change  of  our  masters — New  England  for  Old  England — for  which 
change  I  cannot  find  it  in  my  heart  to  thank  them. 

"  But  the  gentleman  has  taught  me  a  very  different  lesson  from 
that  he  is  now  disposed  to  enjoin  on  us.  I  fear  that  time  has  wrought 
its  influence  on  him,  as  on  all  other  men ;  and  that  age  makes 
him  willing  to  endure  what  in  former  years  he  would  have  spurned 
with  indignation.  I  have  learned  my  first  lessons  in  his  school.  He 
is  the  high-priest  from  whom  I  received  the  little  wisdom  my  poor 
abilities  were  able  to  carry  away  from  the  droppings  of  the  political 
sanctuary.  He  was  the  inspired  statesman  that  taught  me  to  be 
jealous  of  power,  to  watch  its  encroachments,  and  to  sound  the  alarm 
on  the  first  movement  of  usurpation. 

"  Inspired  by  his  eloquent  appeals — encouraged  by  his  example — 
alarmed  by  the  rapid  strides  of  Federal  usurpation,  of  which  he  had 


136  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

warned  them — the  legislature  of  Virginia  has  nobly  stepped  forth  in 
defence  of  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  interposed  to  arrest  that  en 
croachment  and  usurpation  of  power  that  threaten  the  destruction  of 
the  Republic. 

"And  what  is  the  subject  of  alarm  ?  What  are  the  laws  they  have 
dared  to  pronounce  upon  as  unconstitutional  and  tyrannical  I  The 
first,  is  a  law  authorizing  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  order 
any  alien  he  may  judge  dangerous,  any  unfortunate  refugee  that  may 
happen  to  fall  under  his  royal  suspicion,  forthwith  to  quit  the  coun 
try.  It  is  true  that  the  law  says  he  must  have  reasonable  grounds  to 
suspect.  Who  is  to  judge  of  that  reason  but  himself?  Who  can 
look  into  his  breast  and  say  what  motives  have  dominion  there? 
'Tis  a  mockery  to  give  one  man  absolute  power  over  the  liberty  of  an 
other,  and  tJien  ask  him,  when  the  power  is  gone,  and  cannot  be  re 
called,  to  exercise  it  reasonably  !  Power  knows  no  other  check  but 
power.  Let  the  poor  patriot  who  may  have  fallen  under  the  frowns 
of  government,  because  he  dared  assert  the  rights  of  his  countrymen, 
seek  refuge  on  our  shores  of  boasted  liberty ;  the  moment  he  touches 
the  soil  of  freedom,  hoping  here  to  find  a  period  to  all  his  persecu 
tions,  he  is  greeted,  not  with  the  smiles  of  welcome,  or  the  cheerful 
voice  of  freemen,  but  the  stern  demands  of  an  officer  of  the  law — the 
executor  of  a  tyrant's  will — who  summons  him  to  depart.  What 
crime  has  he  perpetrated  ?  Vain  inquiry !  He  is  a  suspected  per 
son.  He  is  judged  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  country — rebel 
lious  at  home,  he  may  be  alike  factious  and  seditious  here.  What 
remedy  ?  What  hope?  He  who  condemns  is  judge — the  sole  judge 
in  the  first  and  the  last  resort.  There  is  no  appeal  from  his  arbi 
trary  will.  Who  can  escape  the  suspicion  of  a  jealous  and  vindictive 
mind? 

"  The  very  men  who  fought  your  battles,  who  spent  their  fortunes, 
and  shed  their  blood  to  win  for  you  that  independence  that  was  once 
your  boast,  may  be  the  first  victims  of  this  tyrannical  law.  Kosci- 
usko  is  now  on  your  shores  ;  though  poor  in  purse  and  emaciated  in 
body,  from  the  many  sacrifices  he  has  made  in  your  cause,  he  has 
yet  a  proud  spirit  that  loves  freedom,  and  will  speak  boldly  of  op 
pression.  Is  not  this  enough  to  bring  him  under  the  frowns  of 
power,  and  to  cause  the  mandate  to  be  issued,  ordering  him  to  de 
part  from  the  country  ?  What  may  be  true  of  one  to  whom  we  owe 


MARCH  COURT.  137 

so  much,  has  already  been  fulfilled  in  the  person  of  many  a  patriot, 
scholar,  and  philosopher,  whose  only  crime  was,  that  of  seeking  re 
fuge  from  oppression  and  wrong,,  on  these  shores  of  boasted  freedom. 
"  And  what  is  that  other  law  that  so  fully  meets  the  approbation  of 
my  venerable  friend  ?  It  is  a  law  that  makes  it  an  act  of  sedition, 
punishable  by  fine  and  imprisonment,  to  utter  or  write  a  sentiment 
that  any  prejudiced  judge  or  juror  may  think  proper  to  construe  into 
disrespect  to  the  President  of  the  United  States.  Do  you  understand 
me  ?  I  dare  proclaim  to  the  people  of  Charlotte  my  opinion  to  be, 
that  John  Adams,  so-called  President,  is  a  weak-minded  man,  vain, 
jealous,  and  vindictive ;  that  influenced  by  evil  passions  and  preju 
dices,  and  goaded  on  by  wicked  counsel,  he  has  been  striving  to  force 
the  country  into  a  war  with  our  best  friend  and  ally.  I  say  that  I 
dare  repeat  this  before  the  people  of  Charlotte,  and  avow  it  as  my 
opinion.  But  let  me  write  it  down,  and  print  it  as  a  warning  to 
my  countrymen.  What  then  ?  I  subject  myself  to  an  indictment  for 
sedition  !  I  make  myself  liable  to  be  dragged  away  from  my  home 
and  friends,  and  to  be  put  on  my  trial  in  some  distant  Federal  Court, 
before  a  judge  who  receives  his  appointment  from  the  man  that  seeks 
my  condemnation  ;  and  to  be  tried  by  a  prejudiced  jury,  who  have 
been  gathered  from  remote  parts  of  the  country,  strangers  to  me,  and 
any  thing  but  my  peers ;  and  have  been  packed  by  the  minions  of 
power  for  my  destruction.  Is  the  man  dreaming  !  do  you  exclaim  ? 
Is  this  a  fancy  picture,  he  has  drawn  for  our  amusement  ?  I  am  no 
fancy  man,  people  of  Charlotte  !  I  speak  the  truth — I  deal  only  in 
stern  realities !  There  is  such  a  law  on  your  Statute  Book  in  spite 
of  your  Constitution — in  open  contempt  of  those  solemn  guarantees 
that  insure  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  to  every  Ame 
rican  citizen.  Not  only  is  there  such  a  statute,  but,  with  shame 
be  it  spoken,  even  England  blushes  at  your  sedition  law.  Would 
that  I  could  stop  here,  and  say  that,  though  it  may  be  found 
enrolled  among  the  the  public  archives,  it  is  a  dead  letter.  Alas  ! 
alas  !  not  only  does  it  exist,  but  at  this  hour  is  most  rigidly  enforced, 
not  against  the  ordinary  citizen  only,  but  against  men  in  oificial  sta 
tions,  even  those  who  are  clothed  by  the  people  with  the  sacred  du 
ties  of  their  representatives — men,  the  sanctity  of  whose  persons  can 
not  be  reached  by  any  law  known  to  a  representative  government, 
are  hunted  down,  condemned,  and  incarcerated  by  this  odious,  tyran- 


138  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

meal,  and  unconstitutional  enactment.  At  this  moment,  while  I  am 
addressing  you,  men  of  Charlotte  !  with  the  free  air  of  heaven  fan 
ning  my  locks — and  God  knows  how  long  I  shall  be  permitted  to  en 
joy  that  blessing — a  representative  of  the  people  of  Vermont — Mat 
thew  Lyon  his  name — lies  immured  in  a  dungeon,  not  six  feet  square, 
where  he  has  dragged  out  the  miserable  hours  of  a  protracted  winter, 
for  daring  to  violate  the  royal  maxim  that  the  king  can  do  no 
wrong.  This  was  his  only  crime — he  told  his  people,  and  caused  it 
to  be  printed  for  their  information,  that  the  President,  i  rejecting 
men  of  age.  experience,  wisdom,  and  independency  of  sentiment,' 
appointed  those  who  had  no  other  merit  but  devotion  to  their  mas 
ter  :  and  he  intimated  that  the  l  President  was  fond  of  ridiculous 
pomp,  idle  parade,  and  selfish  avarice.'  I  speak  the  language  of  the 
indictment.  I  give  in  technical  and  official  .words  the  high  crime 
with  which  he  was  charged.  He  pleaded  justification — I  think  the 
lawyers  call  it — and  offered  to  prove  the  truth  of  his  allegations. 
But  the  court  would  allow  no  time  to  procure  witnesses  or  counsel ; 
he  was  hurried  into  trial  all  unprepared ;  and  this  representative  of 
the  people,  for  speaking  the  truth  of  those  in  authority,  was  ar 
raigned  like  a  felon,  condemned,  fined,  and  imprisoned.  These  are 
the  laws,  the  venerable  gentlemen  would  have  you  believe,  are  not 
only  sanctioned  by  the  Constitution,  but  demanded  by  the  necessity 
of  the  times — laws  at  which  even  monarchs  blush — banishing  from 
your  shores  the  hapless  victim  that  only  sought  refuge  from  oppres 
sion,  and  making  craven,  fawning  spaniels,  aye  !  dumb  dogs,  of  your 
own  people  !  He  tells  you,  moreover,  that  if  you  do  not  agree  with 
him  in  opinion — cannot  consent  that  these. vile  enactments  are  either 
constitutional  or  necessary — your  only  remedy,  your  only  hope  of  re 
dress,  is  in  petition. 

"  Petition !  Whom  are  we  to  petition  ?  But  one  solitary  member 
from  Virginia,  whose  name  is  doomed  to  everlasting  infamy,  dared 
to  record  his  vote — dared  to  record,  did  I  say  ?  I  beg  pardon — but 
one  who  did  not  spurn  from  them  this  hideous  offspring  of  a  tyrant's 
lust.  Whom,  then,  I  repeat,  are  we  to  petition  ?  those  who  are  the 
projectors  of  these  measures,  who  voted  for  them,  and  forced  them 
upon  you  in  spite  of  your  will  ?  Would  not  these  men  laugh  at  your 
petition,  and,  in  the  pride  and  insolence  of  new-born  power,  trample 
it  under  their  feet  with  disdain  ?  Shall  we  petition  his  majesty,  who, 


MARCH  COURT.  139 

by  virtue  of  these  very  laws,  holds  your  liberties  in  his  sacred  hands  ? 
I  tell  you  he  would  spurn  your  petition  from  the  foot  of  the  throne, 
as  those  of  your  fathers,  on  a  like  occasion,  were  spurned  from  the 
throne  of  George  the  Third  of  England.  From  whose  lips  do  we 
hear  that  word  petition — an  abject  term,  fit  only  for  the  use  of  sub 
jects  and  of  slaves  ?  Can  it  be  that  he  is  now  willing  to  petition  and 
to  supplicate  his  co-equals  in  a  common  confederacy,  who  proudly 
disdained  entreaty  and  supplication  to  the  greatest  monarch  on 
earth — whose  fleets  covered  our  seas,  whose  armies  darkened  our 
shores — sent  over  to  bind  and  to  rivet  those  chains  that  had  been  so 
long  forging  for  our  unfettered  limbs  !  Has  age  so  tamed  his  proud 
spirit  that  he  will  gently  yield  to  a  domestic  usurper  what  he  scorned 
to  grant  to  a  foreign  master  ?  I  fear  he  has  deceived  himself,  and 
would  deceive  you ;  let  not  his  siren  song  of  peace  lull  you  into  a 
fatal  repose.  For  what  is  this  large  standing  army  quartered  on  the 
country1?  why  those  recruiting  officers  insulting  every  hamlet  and 
village  with  their  pride  and  insolence,  and  decoying  the  honest 
farmer  from  his  labor,  to  become  the  idle,  corrupt,  and  profligate 
drone  of  a  military  camp  ?  Why  this  large  naval  establishment  ? 
Why  such  burthensome  and  odious  taxes  imposed  on  the  industry  of 
the  country?  Why  those  enormous  loans  at  usurious  interest  in 
times  of  peace  ;  and,  above  all,  why  those  unconstitutional  laws  to 
banish  innocence — to  silence  inquiry — stifle  investigation,  and  to 
make  dumb  the  complaining  mouths  of  the  people  1  Are  these  vast 
preparations  in  consequence  of  some  imminent  peril  overhanging  the 
country  ?  Are  we  threatened  with  war?  With  whom  1  with  France  ? 
France  has  showed  that  this  wicked  administration  cannot  drive 
her  into  a  war  with  her  ancient  friend  and  ally.  She  has  almost 
compelled  them  to  keep  a  minister  of  peace  within  her  borders,  and 
offered  them  almost  any  terms  of  conciliation  consistent  with  justice 
and  dignity.  Yet  do  you  see  any  abatement  in  the  warlike  energies 
of  the  Government  ? 

"  For  what,  I  ask,  are  these  vast  and  hostile  preparations  ?  Let  the 
late  pretended  whisky  insurrection  in  the  western  counties  of  Penn 
sylvania  answer  the  question.  I  am  no,  alarmist ;  but  I  cannot  close 
my  eyes  to  the  truth  when  I  see  it  glaring  before  me.  These 
"  provisional "  armies,  as  they  have  chosen  to  call  them,  are  meant  for 
you ;  they  are  intended,  not  to  meet  the  troops  of  France,  which  they 


140  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

know  will  never  insult  the  soil  of  this  republic,  but  to  awe  you,  the 
people,  into  submission,  and  to  force  upon  you,  by  a  display  of  mili 
tary  power,  the  destructive  measures  of  this  vaulting  and  ambitious 
administration.  And  yet  the  gentleman  tells  you  we  must  wait  until 
some,  infringement  is  made  on  our  rights  !  Your  Constitution  broken, 
your  citizens  dragged  to  prison  for  daring  to  exercise  the  freedom 
of  speech,  armies  levied,  and  you  threatened  with  immediate  inva 
sion  for  your  audacious  interference  with  the  business  of  the  Federal 
Government ;  and  still  you  are  told  to  wait  for  some  infringement  of 
your  rights  !  How  long  are  we  to  wait  ?  Till  the  chains  are  fastened 
upon  us.  and  we  can  no  longer  help  ourselves  ?  But  the  gentleman 
says  your  course  may  lead  to  civil  war,  and  where  are  your  resources  ? 
I  answer  him  in  his  own  words,  handed  down  by  the  tradition  of  the 
past  generation,  and  engraven  on  the  hearts  of  his  grateful  country 
men.  I  answer,  in  his  own  words :  *  Shall  we  gather  strength  by 
irresolution  and  inaction  ?  Shall  we  acquire  the  means  of  effectual 
resistance  by  lying  supinely  on  our  backs,  and  hugging  the  delusive 
phantom  of  hope,  until  our  enemies  shall  have  bound  us  hand  and 
foot  ?  Sir,  we  are  not  weak,  if  we  make  a  proper  use  of  those  means 
which  the  God  of  nature  hath  placed  in  our  power.  The  battle,  sir, 
is  not  to  the  strong  alone  ;  it  is  to  the  vigilant,  the  active,  the 
brave.' 

"  But  we  are  not  only  to  have  an  invading  army  marching  into  our 
borders,  but  the  gentleman's  vivid  imagination  has  pictured  "Wash 
ington  at  the  head  of  it,  coming  to  inflict  military  chastisement  on 
his  native  State ;  and  who,  exclaims  he,  would  dare  lift  his  hand 
against  the  father  of  his  country  ?  Sternly  has  he  rebuked  one  of 
you  for  venturing,  in  the  outburst  of  patriotic  feeling,  to  declare  that 
he  would  do  it.  I  bow  with  as  much  respect  as  any  man  at  the  name 
of  Washington.  I  have  been  taught  to  look  upon  it  with  a  venera 
tion  little  short  of  that  of  my  Creator.  But  while  I  love  Caesar,  I 
love  Rome  more.  Should  he,  forgetful  of  the  past,  grown  ambitious  of 
power,  and,  seduced  by  the  artful  machinations  of  those  who  seek  to 
use  his  great  name  in  the  subjugation  of  his  country,  lift  a  parricidal 
hand  against  the  bosom  of  the  State  that  gave  him  birth  and  crowned 
him  with  his  glory,  because  she  has  dared  to  assert  those  rights  that 
belong  to  her,  not  by  the  laws  of  nature,  but  those  rights  that  have 
been  reserved  to  her  by  this  very  Constitution  that  she  partly  ordained. 


MARCH  COURT. 

and  without  which  she  must  drag  out  an  existence  of  helpless  and 
hopeless  imbecility,  I  trust  there  will  be  found  many  a  Brutus  to 
avenge  her  wrongs.  I  promise,  for  one,  so  help  me  God  !  — and  it  is 
in  no  boastful  spirit  I  speak — that  I  will  not  be  an  idle  spectator  of 
the  tyrannical  and  murderous  tragedy,  so  long  as  I  have  an  arm  to 
wield  a  weapon,  or  a  voice  to  cry  shame  !  Shame  on  you  for  inflict 
ing  this  deadly  blow  in  the  bosom  of  the  mother  that  gave  you  exist 
ence,  and  cherished  your  fame  as  her  own  brightest  jewel." 

We  do  not  pretend,  reader,  to  give  you  the  language  of  John 
Randolph  on  this  occasion  ;  nor  are  we  certain  even  that  the  thoughts 
are  his.  We  have  nothing  but  the  faint  tradition  of  near  fifty  years  to 
go  upon ;  and  happy  are  we  if  all  our  researches  have  enabled  us  to 
make  even  a  tolerable  approximation  to  what  was  said.  He  spoke  for 
three  hours  ;  all  that  time  the  people,  standing  on  their  feet,  hung  with 
breathless  silence  on  his  lips.  His  youthful  appearance,  boyish  tones, 
clear,  distinct,  thrilling  utterance ;  his  graceful  action,  bold  expres 
sions,  fiery  energy,  and  manly  thoughts,  struck  them  with  astonish 
ment.  A  bold  genius  and  an  orator  of  the  first  order  suddenly  burst 
upon  them,  and  dazzled  them  with  his  power  and  brilliancy.  A 
prophet  was  among  them,  and  they  knew  it  not.  When  he  concluded, 
an  old  planter,  turning  to  his  neighbor,  exclaimed ;  "  He's  no  bug- 
eater  now,  I  tell  you."  Dr.  Hog^e  turned  from  the  stand,  and  went 
away,  repeating  to  himself  these  lines  from  the  "  Deserted  Village  :" 

"  Amazed,  the  gazing  rustics  ranged  around, 
And  still  they  gazed,  and  still  the  wonder  grew, 
That  one  small  head  could  carry  all  he  knew." 

Mr.  Henry,  turning  to  some  by-stander,  said :  "  I  haven't  seen 
the  little  dog  before,  since  he  was  at  school ;  he  was  a  great  atheist 
then."  He  made  no  reply  to  the  speech  ;  but,  approaching  Mr.  Ran 
dolph,  he  took  him  by  the  hand,  and  said :  "  Young  man,  you  call  me 
father ;  then,  my  son,  I  have  somewhat  to  say  unto  thee  (holding  both 
his  hands) — keep  justice,  keep  truth,  and  you  will  live  to  think  dif 
ferently." 

They  dined  together,  and  Randolph,  ever  after  venerated  the 
memory  of  his  friend,  who  died  in  a  few  weeks  from  that  day. 

They  were  both  elected  in  April ;  the  one  to  Congress,  the  other 
to  the  State  Legislature;  and,  doubtless,  many  of  the  good  free- 


142  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

holders  of  Charlotte  voted  for  both.  Who  can  blame  them  ?  Happj 
people  of  Charlotte !  it  was  your  lot  to  behold  the  bright  golden  sun 
set  of  the  great  luminary  whose  meridian  power  melted  away  the 
chains  of  British  despotism  and  withered  up  the  cankered  heart  of 
disaffected  Toryism ;  then,  turning  with  tearful  eyes  from  the  last 
rays  of  the  sinking  orb,  to  hail,  dawning  on  the  same  horizon,  another 
sun,  just  springing,  as  it  were,  from  the  night  of  chaos,  mounting 
majestically  into  his  destined  sphere,  and  driving  clouds  and  darkness 
before  his  youthful  beams. 


CHAPTEK    XXII. 

FKANCE  AND  THE  ADMINISTRATION. 

MR.  ADAMS  saved  the  country  from  a  war  with  France,  and  a  con 
sequent  alliance  with  Great  Britain,  and  all  the  unimaginable  events 
that  must  have  followed  that  connection  ;  but  in  so  doing  he  destroyed 
his  party,  and  defeated  his  own  re-election.  No  one,  to  our  know 
ledge,  has  ever  attributed  these  results  to  a  foreseen  and  predeter 
mined  self-sacrifice  on  his  part  for  the  good  of  the  country.  Those 
who  were  associated  with  him  and  knew  him  best  attribute  his  course 
to  far  other  causes.  Before  we  proceed  with  our  narrative,  we  will 
give  the  reader  a  further  insight  into  the  character  of  this  man,  so 
necessary  to  understand  the  complicated  history  of  those  times.  A 
mere  detail  of  facts,  without  a  knowledge  of  the  causes  that  produced 
them,  or  the  character  and  motives  of  the  men  that  acted  them,  can 
afford  no  instruction  to  the  student  of  history.  Without  some  such 
insight,  the  battle  of  the  frogs  or  the  wars  of  the  giants  would  be 
equally  as  instructive  as  the  Punic  Wars  or  the  conflicts  in  the  forum. 

What  we  say  of  Mr.  Adams  is  drawn  from  cotemporary  history, 
and  in  the  language  of  those  who  were  most  intimately  associated 
him.  The  reader  is  already  aware  of  his  course  before  and  during 
the  negotiations  for  the  treaty  of  Paris,  in  1782,  and  Dr.  Franklin's 
opinion  of  his  character. 

General  Hamilton,  a  very  good  judge,  said  of  him  while  President, 
and  during  the  great  events  we  are  now  discoursing  of,  and  in  explana- 


FRANCE  AND  THE  ADMINISTRATION.  143 

tion  of  their  causes,  that  he  possessed  patriotism  and  integrity,  and 
even  talents,  of  a  certain  kind  ;  but  that  he  did  not  possess  the  talents 
adapted  to  the  administration  of  government,  and  that  there  were 
great  and  intrinsic  defects  in  his  character,  which  unfitted  him  for 
the  office  of  Chief  Magistrate.  With  all  his  virtues,  he  was  tainted 
with  a  disgusting  egotism,  a  distempered  jealousy,  and  an  ungovern 
able  indiscretion  of  temper.  When  he  and  General  Washington 
were  run  together  as  candidates  for  the  presidential  and  vice- 
presidential  office,  it  was  thought  all-important  to  secure  the  first 
office  to  General  Washington  (a  majority  at  that  time  determining 
the  question),  by  dropping  a  few  votes  from  Mr.  Adams.  He  com 
plained  of  this  as  unfair  treatment — said  he  ought  to  have  been  per 
mitted  to  take  an  equal  chance  with  General  Washington.  When,  at 
a  subsequent  period,  he  and  Mr.  Pinckney  were  on  the  same  ticket, 
it  was  thought,  by  the  federal  party,  that  the  success  of  their  cause 
ought  not  to  be  hazarded  by  dropping  any  of  the  votes ;  it  was  not  a 
matter  of  such  importance  that  Mr.  Adams  or  Mr.  Pinckney  should 
be  elected  President,  as  that  Mr.  Jefferson  should  be  defeated.  He 
was  enraged  with  all  those  who  thought  that  Mr.  Pinckney  ought  to 
have  an  equal  chance  with  himself.  To  this  circumstance,  in  a  great 
measure,  may  be  attributed  the  serious  schism  which,  at  a  subsequent 
period,  grew  up  in  the  federal  party.  Mr.  Adams  never  could  for 
give  the  men  who  were  engaged  in  the  plan,  though  it  embraced  some 
of  his  most  partial  admirers.  He  discovered  bitter  animosity  against 
several  of  them.  His  rage  against  General  Hamilton  was  so  ve 
hement,  that  he  could  not  restrain  himself  within  the  forms  of  civility 
or  decorum,  in  the  presence  of  that  gentleman.  His  jealousy  of  the 
Pinckneys  was  notorious,  and  it  dated  as  far  back  as  the  appointment 
of  Mr.  Thomas  Pinckney,  by  Washington,  as  envoy  to  the  Court  of 
London.  Mr.  Adams  desired  the  appointment  for  himself,  notwith 
standing  the  impropriety — he  being  the  Vice-President — and  next 
he  desired  it  for  his  son-in-law.  In  the  bitterness  of  disappointment, 
he  played  into  the  hands  of  the  opposition  party,  and  charged  upon 
General  Washington  that  the  appointment  had  been  made  under 
British  influence. 

Soon  after  his  own  appointment  of  General  Washington,  in  July, 
1798,  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  all  the  armies  of  the  United  States, 
he  became  jealous  of  the  overshadowing  influence  of  that  great 


144  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

character,  and  did  all  he  could,  consistently  with  his  station,  to  thwart 
the  plans,  to  delay  and  derange  the  measures,  that  Washington 
thought  most  essential  to  the  service. 

His  conduct  in  the  appointment  of  general  officers,  proved  that 
he  was  fickle,  inconsistent,  and  under  the  baneful  influence  of  a  dis 
tempered  jealousy. 

With  the  country  in  imminent  danger  of  a  war  ;  with  Washing 
ton  and  Hamilton  and  C.  C.  Pinckney  at  the  head  of  her  armies,  it 
was  natural  that  those  who  felt  themselves  responsible  for  the  mea 
sures  that  had  brought  the  nation  into  that  predicament,  should  look 
to  those  great  men  as  their  guides,  instead  of  the  impulsive,  aimless, 
and  unsteady  character,  nominally  at  the  head  of  affairs.  Even  his 
own  cabinet  had  more  frequent,  intimate,  and  confidential  communi 
cations,  on  all  public  affairs,  with  the  head  of  the  army  than  with 
himself.  He  did  not  fail  to  perceive  this ;  and  soon  became  enraged 
with  his  own  counsellors.  Not  long  afterwards,  some  of  them  were 
dismissed.  A  prominent  charge  against  McHenry  was,  that  the 
Secretary,  in  a  report  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  had  eulogized 
General  Washington,  and  had  attempted  to  eulogize  General  Hamil 
ton,  which  was  adduced  as  one  proof  of  a  combination,  in  which  the 
Secretary  was  engaged,  to  depreciate  and  injure  him,  the  President. 
Here,  then,  was  the  secret.  His  jealous  and  distempered  fancy, 
stimulated  by  evil  counsel,  had  conjured  up  a  formidable  conspiracy, 
in  which  his  cabinet  were  implicated,  the  object  of  which  was  to  de 
preciate  and  injure  him,  and  to  exalt  Hamilton  or  Pinckney  above 
him.  To  this  cause  may  be  attributed  his  extraordinary  course  in 
regard  to  French  affairs  ;  and  those  fatal  aberrations,  as  they  were 
called  by  his  friends,  that  resulted  in  peace  with  the  French  nation, 
but  in  the  destruction  of  himself  and  of  his  party. 

We  now  proceed  with  the  current  of  events,  down  to  the  meeting 
of  Congress,  in  1798. 

As  our  object  is  not  a  history  of  the  country,  but  only  of  those 
leading  causes  of  history,  a  knowledge  of  which  is  essential  to  under 
stand  the  position  of  political  characters  who  figured  at  the  time,  we 
shall  confine  ourselves  to  a  development  of  French  affairs,  because 
they  absorbed  all  others,  gave  weight  to  the  political  atmosphere,  and 
indicated,  by  the  elevation  or  depression  of  the  barometer,  the  advance 


FRANCE  AND  THE  ADMINISTRATION.  145 

or  retrograde  position  of  the  two  great  parties  that  divided  men  and 
controlled  the  politics  of  the  country. 

The  reader  is  already  aware,  that  on  the  departure  of  Messrs. 
Pinekney  and  Marshall  from  Paris,  in  the  spring  of  1798,  Mr.  Gerry 
was  induced  to  remain ;  but  he  obstinately  persisted  in  refusing  to 
enter  into  any  negotiation.  About  the  last  of  May,  1798,  the 
X.  Y.  Z.  dispatches,  which  had  been  published  in  America,  found 
their  way  to  the  hands  of  the  French  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
M.  Talleyrand.  He  immediately  inclosed  the  very  strange  publica 
tion,  as  he  called  it,  to  Mr.  Gerry,  and  added :  "  I  cannot  observe 
without  surprise  that  intriguers  have  profited  of  the  insulated  con 
dition  in  which  the  envoys  of  the  United  States  have  kept  themselves 
to  make  proposals  and  hold  conversations,  the  object  of  which  was, 
evidently,  to  deceive  you."-  He  demanded  the  names  of  the  parties 
implicated,  and  to  be  informed  whether  any  of  the  citizens  attached 
to  his  service,  and  authorized  by  him  to  see  the  envoys,  told  them  a 
word  which  had  the  least  relation  to  the  disgusting  proposition  which 
was  made  by  X.  and  Y.,  to  give  any  sum  whatever  for  corrupt  distri 
bution. 

Mr.  Gerry  disclosed  the  names  of  the  parties.  Two  of  them,  the 
most  conspicuous  characters,  X.  and  Y.,  were  foreigners,  and  unknown 
to  the  French  Government ;  the  third,  Mr.  Z.,  made  himself  known, 
and  proved  that  the  part  he  had  acted  was  wholly  honorable.  Mr. 
Gerry  added,  further,  that  in  regard  to  the  citizens  attached  to  the 
employments  of  M.  Talleyrand,  and  authorized  by  him  to  see  the  en 
voys  on  official  communications,  not  a  word  had  fallen  from  any  of 
them  which  had  the  least  relation  to  the  proposition  made  by  X.  and 
Y.  in  their  informal  negotiations,  to  pay  money  for  corrupt  purposes. 

It  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  members  of  the  Directory,  whose 
term  of  office  was  exceedingly  precarious,  and  even  Talleyrand  him 
self,  were  not  too  virtuous  to  receive  a  douceur,  or  a  bribe,  to  secure 
their  influence  in  the  negotiation  of  a  treaty ;  but  that  they  were,  in 
a  roundabout  way,  actually  fishing  for  one  on  this  occasion,  depends 
solely  on  the  statement  of  the  two  principal  actors  in  the  business, 
who,  in  a  most  remarkable  degree,  gained  the  confidence  of  the  envoys, 
but  who  were,  in  fact,  foreigners,  unknown  to  the  Government,  and 
corrupt  persons,  who  fled  the  country  on  the  discovery  of  the  plot. 
There  is  not  one  corroborating  circumstance  to  strengthen  their  story. 

VOL.  i.  7 


146  LIFJE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

Mr.  Gerry  admits  that  every  member  of  the  Government  with  whom 
they  communicated  acted  with  the  utmost  propriety ;  and  that  no 
corrupt  proposition  came  either  from  them  or  M.  Talleyrand. 

Napoleon,  in  his  Revelations  from  St.  Helena,  in  giving  a  history 
of  these  transactions,  says :  "  Certain  intriguing  agents,  with  which 
sort  of  instruments  the  office  of  foreign  relations  was  at  that  period 
abundantly  supplied,  insinuated  that  the  demand  of  a'  loan  would  be 
desisted  from,  upon  the  advance  of  twelve  hundred  thousand  francs, 
to  be  divided  between  the  Director  Barras  and  the  Minister  Talley 
rand."  This  whole  narrative  of  Bonaparte,  when  carefully  examined, 
is  obviously  drawn  from  public  documents ;  just  such  materials  as  we 
have  before  us  at  this  time.  There  is  not  the  slightest  evidence  that 
he  had  any  personal  knowledge  of  the  transactions,  and  that  he  knew 
from  any  other  source  than  common  report  growing  out  of  the  publi 
cations  of  the  day,  that  Barras,  or  Talleyrand,  had,  through  intriguing 
agents,  made  an  overture  for  a  bribe. 

Notwithstanding  the  publication  of  those  X.  Y.  Z.  dispatches,  so 
questionable  in  their  character  and  design,  so  well  calculated  to  irri 
tate,  yet  the  French  Government  would  not  be  excited  into  a  feeling 
of  hostility.  "  As  to  the  French  Government,"  says  Talleyrand,  on 
the  10th  of  June,  "superior  to  all  personalities,  to  all  the  manoeuvres 
of  its  enemies,  it  perseveres  in  the  intention  of  conciliating  with  sin 
cerity  all  the  differences  which  have  happened  between  the  two  coun 
tries.  I  confirm  it  to  you  anew."  He  then  proposes  to  proceed  with 
Mr.  Gerry  on  the  business  of  negotiation,  discards  any  further  demand 
for  a  loan,  and  rests  the  whole  negotiation  on  three  simple  proposi 
tions,  which  might  have  been  speedily  and  satisfactorily  adjusted : 
and  he  urged  on  Mr.  Gerry  to  send  home  for  authority  to  conclude 
the  treaty,  if  he  did  not  feel  that  he  was  already  clothed  with  suffi 
cient  power  for  the  purpose.  But  he  strangely  persisted  in  doing 
neither  one  thing  nor  another  :  he  would  not  send  home  and  ask  for 
instruments  necessary  to  the  negotiation,  nor  for  a  successor  to  be 
put  in  his  stead  for  that  purpose,  nor  would  he  enter  into  a  full  de 
scription  of  all  the  points  necessarily  involved  in  a  treaty,  that  he 
might  lay  before  his  Government  the  terms  of  one  he  had  informally 
entered  into,  for  their  ratification  or  rejection.  He  had  it  in  his 
power,  by  a  firm  and  manly  course  of  statesmanship,  to  throw  upon 
the  administration  the  responsibility  of  closing  at  once  all  subjects 


FRANCE  AND  THE  ADMINISTRATION.  147 

:f  difference  with  the  French  Republic,  or  by  rejecting  a  favorable 
treaty,  to  involve  the  country  in  war  with  that  formidable  power. 
His  only  thought  seems  to  have  been  to  avoid  doing  any  thing  that 
might  hurt  the  feelings  of  his  late  colleagues,  and  to  devise  means  to 
get  home.  He  never  ceased  begging  Talleyrand  to  let  him  go  home. 
Talleyrand  never  ceased  begging  him  to  stay,  and  to  attend  to  the 
important  and  pressing  affairs  of  his  country.  At  length,  finding 
Mr.  Gerry  wholly  impracticable,  he  sent  him  his  passports  about  the 
last  of  July,  and  added,  "  As  long  as  I  could  flatter  myself,  sir,  with 
fulfilling  the  wish  of  the  Executive  Directory,  by  endeavoring  with 
you  to  establish  the  good  understanding  between  the  French  Repub 
lic  and  the  United  States,  I  used  my  efforts,  both  in  our  conferences 
and  in  my  correspondence  with  you,  to  smooth  the  paths,  to  establish 
the  basis,  to  enter  on  the  business,  and  to  convince  you  of  the  utility 
of  your  presence  in  Paris.  It  is  in  your  character  of  Envoy  of  the 
American  Government  I  received  you  and  wrote  to  you ;  it  depended 
on  yourself  to  be  publicly  received  by  the  Executive  Directory.  .  .  . 
You  cannot  dissemble,  that  if  nothing  prevented  you  from  pursuing 
with  me  the  examining  and  reconciling  of  the  grievances  which  divide 
the  two  countries,  we  should  not  long  stand  in  need  of  any  thing  but 

the  respective  ratifications When  scarcely  informed  of  the 

departure  of  Messrs.  Pinckney  and  Marshall,  I  endeavored  in  every 
conference  I  afterwards  had  with  you  to  demonstrate  to  you  the 
urgency,  the  propriety,  and  the  possibility  of  an  active  negotiation. 
I  collected  your  ideas ;  they  differed  from  my  own — I  endeavored  to 
reconcile  them.  On  the  18th  June  I  transmitted  to  you  a  complete 
plan  of  the  negotiations.  On  the  27th  I  sent  you  my  first  note  for 
discussion  upon  one  of  the  points  of  the  treaty ;  you  declined  answer 
ing  it.  On  the  6th  of  July  I  sent  you  two  others.  In  vain  I  accom 
panied  these  documents  with  the  most  cordial  invitation  rapidly  to 
run  over  with  me  this  series  of  indispensable  discussions  upon  all  our 
grievances.  You  have  not  even  given  me  an  opportunity  of  proving 
what  liberality  the  Executive  Directory  would  use  on  the  occasion. 
You  never  wrote,  in  fact,  but  for  your  departure."  In  a  postscript, 
dated  three  days  later,  and  after  receiving  advices  from  America 
giving  an  account  of  the  warlike  acts  of  Congress,  passed  in  May  and 
June,  M.  Talleyrand  adds :  "  It  seems  that,  hurried  beyond  every 
limit,  your  Government  no  longer  preserves  appearances." 


148  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

(He  then  cites  the  various  acts  that  have  been  passed.)  "  The  long- 
suffering  of  the  Executive  Directory,"  continues  he,  "  is  about  to 
manifest  itself  in  the  most  unquestionable  manner.  Perfidy  will  no 
longer  be  able  to  throw  a  veil  over  the  pacific  dispositions,  which  it 
has  never  ceased  to  manifest.  It  is  at  the  very  moment  of  this  fresh 
provocation,  which  would  appear  to  leave  no  honorable  choice  but 
war,  that  it  confirms  the  assurances  I  have  given  you  on  its  behalf. 
It  is  yet  ready,  it  is  as  much  disposed  as  ever,  to  terminate  by  a  can 
did  negotiation  the  differences  which  subsist  between  the  two  coun 
tries.  Such  is  its  repugnance  to  consider  the  United  States  as 
enemies,  that  notwithstanding  their  hostile  demonstrations,  it  means 
to  wait  until  it  be  irresistibly  forced  to  it  by  real  hostilities.  Since 
you  will  depart,  sir,  hasten,  at  least,  to  transmit  to  your  Government 
this  solemn  declaration." 

Mr.  Gerry  did  hasten  to  lay  these  declarations  before  his  Govern 
ment  on  the  first  day  of  October,  and  added,  that  from  the  best  in 
formation  he  could  obtain  relative  to  tlie  disposition  of  t/ie  Executive 
Directory,  they  were  very  desirous  for  a  reconciliation  between  the 
Republics. 

No  sooner  had  Mr.  Gerry  left  the  shores  of  France,  than  M. 
Talleyrand  opened  a  correspondence  on  American  affairs  with  M. 
Pichon.  Secretary  of  Legation  of  the  French  Republic,  near  the 
Batavian  Republic,  and  requested  that  gentleman  to  give  copies  of 
the  same  to  the  American  minister,  Mr.  Murray,  doubtless  with  an 
expectation  that  they  would  be  forwarded  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  In  his  letter  of  August  the  28th,  just  twenty 
days  from  the  departure  of  Mr.  Gerry,  he  says :  "  I  see  between 
France  and  the  United  States  no  clashing  of  interests,  no  motives  of 
jealousy.  Where  is,  therefore,  the  cause  of  the  misunderstanding, 
which,  if  France  did  not  show  herself  the  wisest,  would  bring  from 
this  moment  a  great  rupture  between  the  two  Republics  ?  There  are 
neither  incompatible  interests,  nor  projects  of  aggrandizement,  which 
divide  them.  Lately  r  distrust  has  done  all  the  mischief.  The  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States  has  believed  that  France  wished  to  have 
revolutionized  America ;  France  has  believed  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  wished  to  throw  itself  into  the  arms  of  England. 
It  is  because  acrimony,  having  mingled  itself  with  distrust,  neither 
side  has  taken  true  conciliatory  means.  It  has  been  supposed,  in  the 


FRANCE  AND  THE  ADMINISTRATION.  149 

United  States,  that  the  French  Government  temporized,  in  order  to 
strike  with  greater  safety.  Hence  followed  a  crowd  of  measures, 
each  one  more  aggravating  than  the  other.  In  France,  it  has  been 
supposed  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  wished  only  to 
support  the  appearances  of  negotiation.  Thence  there  was  a  certain 
insisting  on  pledges  of  good  faith.  Let  us  substitute  calmness  to 
passions,  confidence  to  suspicions,  and  we  shall  soon  agree.  I  have 
made  my  efforts  to  wind  up  a  negotiation,  in  this  manner,  with  Mr. 
Gerry.  My  correspondence  with  him,  until  the  day  of  his  departure, 
is  a  curious  monument  of  advances  from  me,  and  of  evasions  from 
him.  I  wished  to  encourage  Mr.  Gerry,  by  the  marks  of  regard 
which  his  good  intention  deserved,  though  I  cannot  dissemble  to 
myself  that  he  had  been  wanting  decision,  at  the  moment  when  he 
might  easily  have  settled  every  thing  properly."  In  a  word,  he 
winds  up  with  giving  Mr.  Murray,  through  M.  Pichon,  the  most 
solemn  assurances  that  a  new  plenipotentiary  would  be  received  with 
out  hesitation,  and  that  an  act  of  confidence  towards  them  would  en 
courage  confidence  on  their  part.  This  letter,  so  unequivocal  in  its 
nature,  and  another,  of  a  like  tenor,  making  more  direct  overtures,  if 
possible,  towards  re-opening  negotiations,  must  have  reached  the 
President  before  the  meeting  of  Congress  in  December.  The  Presi. 
dent  had  other  unequivocal,  though  less  direct,  evidences  of  the 
pacific  disposition  of  the  French  Directory.  Dr.  George  Logan,  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania,  while  in  France,  was  introduced  to  the 
Director  Merlin,  and  afterwards  visited  him  on  the  footing  of  a  pri 
vate  friend.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  Merlin  informed  him  that 
France  had  not  the  least  intention  to  interfere  in  the  public  affairs  of 
the  United  States ;  that  his  country  had  acquired  great  reputation  in 
having  assisted  America  to  become  a  free  republic,  and  that  they 
never  would  disgrace  their  own  revolution  by  attempting  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  United  States.  Dr.  Logan  returned  home  early  in  No 
vember,  and  hastened  to  communicate  what  he  thought  good  news,  to 
the  Secretary  of  State.  He  was  coldly  received  by  Mr.  Pickering, 
and  informed  that  his  news  was  of  no  importance.  General  Wash 
ington  was  at  the  seat  of  government  about  the  time  (Nov.,  1798), 
arranging  his  military  operations  with  Generals  Hamilton,  Pinckney, 
and  the  Secretary  of  War.  Dr.  Logan  called  on  him.  His  recep 
tion  was  even  more  cold  and  repulsive  than  that  of  the  Secretary. 


150  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

When  Logan  repeated  to  him  the  conversation  with  Merlin,  he  re. 
plied,  that  it  was  very  singular  ;  that  he,  who  could  only  be  viewed 
as  a  private  character,  unarmed  with  proper  powers,  and  presump 
tively  unknown  in  France,  could  effect  what  three  gentlemen  of  the 
first  respectability  in  our  country,  specially  charged  under  the 
authority  of  the  Government,  were  unable  to  do.  "  You,  sir,"  with 
some  emphasis  on  the  word,  "  were  more  fortunate  than  our  envoys, 
for  they  would  neither  be  received  nor  heard  by  M.  Merlin,  nor  the 
Directory." 

It  is  very  evident  that  General  Washington,  at  that  time,  was 
highly  exasperated  with  France  ;  that  all  his  feelings  were  enlisted 
against  her  ;  and  that,  had  he  been  at  the  head  of  affairs,  it  would 
have  taken  much  more  than  Talleyrand's  overtures  to  have  induced 
him  to  recommence  negotiations.  Had  Washington  been  President 
in  1798,  or  Hamilton,  or  Pinckney,  or  had  Mr.  Adams  yielded  more 
readily  to  the  counsel  of  his  cabinet,  who  were  wholly  under  the  influ 
ence  of  the  Triumvirate,  the  United  States  would  unquestionably  have 
been  involved  in  a  war  with  the  French  Republic.  But  Mr.  Adams, 
whether  from  the  motives  assigned,  or  from  higher  patriotic  consider 
ations,  refused  the  dictation,  and  saved  the  country  from  so  calami 
tous  a  war  as  that  would  have  been  with  the  French  Republic.  Just 
before  the  meeting  of  Congress,  he  arrived  in  Philadelphia,  from  his 
seat  at  Quincy.  The  tone  of  his  mind  seemed  to  have  been  raised, 
rather  than-  depressed.  It  was  suggested  to  him  (by  the  military 
conclave — says  Mr.  Jefferson)  that  it  might  be  expedient  to  insert  in 
the  speech  to  Congress,  a  sentiment  of  this  import — that  after  the  re 
peatedly  rejected  advances  of  this  country,  its  dignity  required  that 
it  should  be  left  with  France,  in  future,  to  make  the  first  overture  ; 
that  if,  desirous  of  reconciliation,  she  should  evince  the  disposition 
by  sending  a  minister  to  this  Government,  he  would  be  received  with 
the  respect  due  to  his  character,  and  treated  with  in  the  frankness  of 
a  sincere  desire  of  accommodation. 

The  suggestion  was  received  in  a  manner  both  indignant  and  in 
temperate.  Mr.  Adams  declared  as  a  sentiment,  which  he  had  adopt 
ed  on  mature  reflection,  That  if  France  should  send  a  'minister  to 
morrow,  lie  would  order  him  back  the  next  day. 

So  imprudent  an  idea  was  easily  refuted.  But  yet,  in  less  than 
forty-eight  hours  from  this  extraordinary  sally,  the  mind  of  Mr. 


FRANCE  AND  THE  ADMINISTRATION.  151 

Adams  underwent  a  total  revolution.  He  resolved  not  only  to  insert 
in  his  speech  the  sentiment  which  had  been  proposed  to  him,  but  to 
go  farther,  and  to  declare,  that  if  France  would  give  explicit  assur 
ances  of  receiving  a  minister  from  this  country,  with  due  respect, 
he  would  send  one. 

In  vain  was  this  extension  of  the  sentiment  opposed  by  all  his 
ministers,  as  being  equally  incompatible  with  good  policy  and  with 
the  dignity  of  the  nation.  He  obstinately  persisted,  and  the  decla 
ration  was  introduced.  The  reader  may  account  for  this  change  in 
the  mind  of  the  President  in  two  ways.  In  the  first  place,  we  may 
presume  that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  dispatches  containing  the  cor 
respondence  of  Mr.  Gerry  with  M.  Talleyrand,  which  might  have 
been  received  in  his  absence ;  but  that  on  perusing  the  correspon 
dence,  he  was  forcibly  struck  with  the  fact  that  a  reconciliation  with 
France  depended  solely  on  him.  That  correspondence  presented  the 
business  in  this  light :  France  says — Two  of  the  ministers  you  sent 
to  treat  with  me  are  personally  offensive,  on  account  of  their  hostile 
opinions  and  haughty  demeanor,  a  sentiment,  according  to  the  laws 
of  nations,  we  have  a  right  to  express,  without  giving  offence  to  you. 
I  early  expressed  a  desire  that  those  gentlemen  would  depart,  and  a 
readiness  to  open  negotiation  with  the  third,  who  evinced  better  dis 
positions  towards  conciliation.  I  told  him  to  send  home  for  addi 
tional  powers,  if  he  doubted  his  authority  to  act  alone,  or  to  inform 
his  Government  that  another  minister  would  be  received  to  treat  in 
his  stead,  or  to  agree  informally  on  the  terms  of  a  treaty,  which  he 
might  submit  for  consideration  on  his  return  to  the  United  States. 
But  declining  to  act  on  the  one  or  the  other  of  these  propositions, 
and  still  insisting  on  his  return  home,  I  then  told  him  distinctly  to 
say  to  his  Government,  France  has  no  cause  of  quarrel  with  America, 
does  not  desire  war,  and  is  ready  to  receive  in  good  faith  a  minister 
of  peace,  whenever  one  may  be  sent.  Such  was  the  attitude  of  the 
subject  exhibited  by  the  dispatches  of  Mr.  Gerry. 

It  was  impossible  for  a  President  of  the  United  States  to  under 
stand  them,  and  then  to  take  upon  himself  the  responsibility  of  re 
jecting  those  overtures  of  peace.  In.  this  way  we  may  account  for  the 
sudden  change  in  the  mind  of  Mr.  Adams,  and  do  credit  to  his  firm 
ness  and  patriotism.  But  is  it  reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  was 
ignorant  of  those  dispatches,  or  their  contents,  till  so  late  a  period  ? 


152  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

Mr.  Gerry  had  arrived,  and  communicated  them  to  the  State  Depart 
ment  on  the  first  day  of  October.  He  himself  was  an  intimate  per 
sonal  friend  of  the  President,  and  lived  in  the  same  State  and  neigh 
borhood.  The  most  reasonable  conclusion,  therefore,  is,  that  Mr. 
Adams  was  well  informed  on  the  whole  subject  when  he  arrived  in 
Philadelpha,  and  that  the  change  in  his  course  was  produced  by  the 
motives  assigned  at  the  time — that  is,  a  jealousy  of  Hamilton  and 
Pinckney,  and  a  belief  that  a  plot  was  on  foot  in  which  his  cabinet 
were  implicated,  to  degrade  and  injure  him,  and  to  exalt  the  one  or 
the  other  of  those  military  characters  in  his  place. 

But,  notwithstanding  this  apparent  change  in  his  mind  towards 
the  most  pacific  measures,  he  kept  back  from  Congress  those  impor 
tant  dispatches  of  Mr.  Grerry,  and  other  information  of  a  pacific  kind, 
till  the  18th  of  January,  1799.  They  were  then  accompanied  by  an 
elaborate  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  in  which  he  says  the 
points  chiefly  meriting  attention  are  the  attempts  of  the  French  Go 
vernment ;  1.  To  exculpate  itself  from  the  charge  of  corruption;  2. 
To  detach  Mr.  Gerry  from  his  colleagues,  and  to  inveigle  him  into  a 
separate  negotiation ;  and  3.  Its  design,  if  the  negotiation  failed,  and 
a  war  should  take  place  between  the  United  States  and  France,  to 
throw  the  blame  of  the  rupture  on  the  United  States.  The  Secre 
tary  labors  to  keep  up  the  spirit  of  distrust  towards  France,  and  to  prove 
that  all  the  overtures  of  her  minister  are  insincere,  merely  intended 
to  deceive  the  United  States,  and  to  gain  time.  "  Warmly  profes 
sing  its  desire  of  reconciliation,"  says  he  in  conclusion,  "  it  gives  no 
evidence  of  its  sincerity ;  but  proofs,  in  abundance,  demonstrate  that 
it  is  not  sincere.  From  standing  erect,  and  in  that  commanding  atti 
tude  requiring  implicit  obedience,  cowering,  it  renounces  some  of  its 
unfounded  demands.  But  I  hope  we  shall  remember  that  the  tiger 
crouches  before  he  leaps  upon  his  prey"  A  very  different  temper  this 
from  that  of  the  President  in  his  opening  speech  to  Congress  in  De 
cember  ;  nor  does  it  show  a  very  harmonious  co-operation  between 
the  Chief  Magistrate  and  his  ministers. 

Just  one  month  from  the  communication  of  the  Secretary's  report 
to  Congress — that  is,  on  the  18th  of  February,  the  President  nomi 
nated  William  Vans  Murray  as  envoy  to  the  French  Republic.  This 
measure  was  taken  without  any  previous  consultation  with  his  minis 
ters.  The  nomination  was,  to  each  of  them,  even  to  the  Secretary 


FRANCE  AND  THE  ADMINISTRATION.  153 

of  State,  his  constitutional  counsellor  in  such  affairs,  the  first  notice 
of  the  project.  The  nomination  was  accompanied  with  a  letter  of 
Talleyrand  to  M.  Pichon,  dated  28th  September,  1798;  and  the 
second,  of  like  tenor,  giving  assurances  that  a  minister  from  the 
United  States  would  be  received  and  accredited. 

The  precipitate  nomination  of  Mr.  Murray  brought  Mr.  Adams 
into  an  awkward  predicament.  He  found  it  necessary  to  change  his 
plan  in  its  progress,  and,  instead  of  one,  to  nominate  three  envoys^ 
and  to  superadd  a  promise,  that,  though  appointed,  they  should  not 
leave  the  United  States  till  further  and  more  perfect  assurances  were 
given  by  the  French  Government.  This  remodification  of  the  mea 
sure  was  a  virtual  acknowledgment  that  it  had  been  premature.  It 
argued  either  instability  of  views,  or  want  of  sufficient  consideration 
beforehand. 

General  Washington  disapproved  very  highly  of  the  measure. 
He  was  immediately  informed  of  it  by  the  Secretary  of  State :  and 
in  reply,  said — "The  unexpectedness  of  the  event  communicated 
in  your  letter  of  the  21st  ultimo  did,  as  you  may  suppose,  sur 
prise  me  not  a  little.  But  far,  very  far  indeed  was  this  surprise 
short  of  what  I  experienced  the  next  day,  when,  by  a  very  intelligent 
gentleman,  immediately  from  Philadelphia,  I  was  informed  that  there 
had  been  no  direct  overture  from  the  Government  of  France  to  that 
of  the  United  States  for  a  negotiation ;  on  the  contrary,  that  n/L.  Tal 
leyrand  was  playing  the  same  loose  and  round-about  game  he  had 
attempted  the  year  before  with  our  wrongs  ;  and  which,  as  ?n  that 
case,  might  mean  any  thing  or  nothing,  as  would  subserve  his  purpose 
best." 

The  speculations  of  the  Republicans  on  the  other  hand  were  to 
the  following  effect.  "  I  inform  you,"  says  Mr.  Jefferson  in  a  letter 
to  Madison,  "  of  the  nomination  of  Murray.  There  is  evidence  that 
the  letter  of  Talleyrand  was  known  to  one  of  the  Secretaries,  and 
therefore  probably  to  all ;  the  nomination,  however,  is  declared  by 
one  of  them  to  have  been  kept  secret  from  them  all.  He  added  that 
he  was  glad  of  it,  as,  had  they  been  consulted,  the  advice  would  have 
been  against  making  the  nomination.  To  the  rest  of  the  party,  how 
ever,  the  whole  was  a  secret  till  the  nomination  was  announced. 
Never  did  a  party  show  a  stronger  mortification,  and  consequently, 
that  war  had  been  their  object.  Dana  declared  in  debate  (as  I  have 

VOL.  i.  7* 


154:  i^FE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

from  those  who  were  present),  that  we  had  done  every  thing  which 
might  provoke  France  to  a  war  5  that  we  had  given  her  insults  which 
no  nation  ought  to  have  borne ;  and  yet  she  would  not  declare  war. 
The  conjecture  as  to  the  Executive  is,  that  they  received  Talleyrand's 
letter  before  or  about  the  meeting  of  Congress :  that  not  meaning  to 
meet  the  overture  effectually,  they  kept  it  secret,  and  let  all  the  war 
measures  go  on ;  but  that  just  before  the  separation  of  the  Senate, 
the  President,  not  thinking  he  could  justify  the  concealing  such  an 
overture,  nor  indeed  that  it  could  be  concealed,  made  a  nomination, 
hoping  that  his  friends  in  the  Senate  would  take  on  their  own  shoul 
ders  the  odium  of  rejecting  it ;  but  they  did  not  choose  it.  The 
Hamiltonians  would  not,  and  the  others  could  not,  alone.  The  whole 
artillery  of  the  phalanx,  therefore,  was  played  secretly  on  the  Presi 
dent,  and  he  was  obliged  himself  to  take  a  step  which  should  parry 
the  overture  while  it  wears  the  face  of  acceding  to  it.  (Mark  that  I 
state  this  as  conjecture  ;  but  founded  on  workings  and  indications 
which  have  been  under  our  eyes.)  Yesterday,  therefore  (25th  Feb.), 
he  sent  in  a  nomination  of  Oliver  Ellsworth,  Patrick  Henry,  and 
William  Vans  Murray,  Envoys  Extraordinary  and  Ministers  Pleni 
potentiary  to  the  French  Republic,  but  declaring  the  two  former 
should  not  leave  this  country,  till  they  should  receive  from  France 
assurances  that  they  should  be  received  with  the  respect  due  by  the 
laws  of  nations  to  their  character.  This,  if  not  impossible,  must 
keep  off  at  least  the  day  so  hateful  and  so  fatal  to  them,  of  reconcilia 
tion,  and  leave  more  time  for  new  projects  of  provocation." 

The  truth  is,  the  friends  of  the  Government  were  not  agreed  as 
to  ulterior  measures.  Some  were  for  immediate  and  unqualified  war — 
of  this  class  were  Hamilton  and  most  of  the  military  gentry — others 
were  for  a  more  mitigated  course:  the  dissolution  of  treaties,  pre 
paration  of  force  by  land  and  sea,  partial  hostilities  of  a  defensive 
tendency ;  leaving  to  France  the  option  of  seeking  accommodation, 
or  proceeding  to  open  war.  As  most  of  the  responsibility  rested 
on  members  of  Congress,  this  latter  course  was  preferred  by  them, 
and  prevailed.  Either  course  was  consistent  with  itself  and  admit 
ted  of  a  steady  line  of  policy.  But  the  President,  having  no  fixed 
object,  and  governed  by  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  came  athwart  all 
their  plans  and  destroyed  them.  Notwithstanding  the  modifications 
of  his  embassy,  it  was  very  evident  that  most  of  the  federal  members 


FRANCE  AND  THE  ADMINISTRATION.  155 

of  both  branches  of  Congress  carried  home  with  them  a  settled  dis 
like  to  the  measure.  They  regarded  it  as  ill-timed,  built  upon  too 
slight  grounds,  and,  therefore,  humiliating  to  the  United  States ;  as 
calculated  to  revive  French  principles,  strengthen  the  party  against 
Government,  and  produce  changes  in  the  sentiments  and  conduct  of 
some  of  the  European  powers,  that  might  materially  affect  the  in 
terests  and  growing  commercial  prospects  of  the  United  States. 

Before  the  envoys  departed,  intelligence  was  received  of  a  new 
revolution  in  the  French  Government,  and  the  expulsion  of  two  of  the 
Directory.  -This  was  thought  to  be  a  valid  motive  for  delay — at 
least  till  it  could  be  known  whether  the  new  Directory  would  ratify 
the  assurances  of  the  old  one.  When  the  news  of  the  revolution  in 
the  Directory  arrived,  Mr.  Adams  was  at  his  seat  in  Massachusetts. 
His  ministers  addressed  to  him  a  joint  letter,  communicating  the  in 
telligence,  and  submitting  to  his  consideration,  whether  that  event 
ought  to  suspend  the  projected  mission.  In  a  letter  which  he  after 
wards  wrote  from  the  same  place,  he  directed  the  preparation  of  a 
draft  of  instructions  for  the  envoys,  and  intimated  that  their  depar 
ture  would  be  suspended  for  some  time. 

Shortly  after,  about  the  middle  of  October  1799,  he  came  to  the 
seat  of  government,  when  he  adjusted  with  his  ministers  the  tenor 
of  the  instructions  to  be  given ;  but  observed  a  profound  silence  on 
the  question  whether  it  was  expedient  that  the  mission  should  pro 
ceed.  The  ministers  expected  a  consultation  on  the  great  question, 
whether  the  mission  to  France  would  be  suspended  until  the  fate  of 
its  Government  could  be  known.  But  they  were  disappointed.  The 
President  alone  considered  and  decided.  The  morning  after  the  in 
structions  were  settled,  he  signified  to  the  Secretary  of  State  that 
the  envoys  were  immediately  to  depart. 

Though  uncommunicative  to  his  constitutional  advisers,  he  was 
very  free  in  his  conversations  with  the  envoys  as  to  his  expectations 
in  regard  to  their  embassy.  He  told  them  that  the  French  Govern 
ment  would  not  accept  the  terms,  which  they  were  instructed  to  pro 
pose  ;  that  they  would  speedily  return ;  and  that  he  should  have  to 
recommend  to  Congress  a  declaration  of  war.  "But  as  to  the 
French  negotiation  producing  a  war  with  England,"  said  he,  "  if  it  did, 
England  could  not  hurt  us."  "  When,"  Mr.  Ellsworth  says,  "  Pick 
ering  recited  this  last  idea  to  me  and  Mr.  Wolcott,  I  had  not  pa- 


156  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

tience  to  hear  more.  And  yet  the  President  has  several  times,  in  his 
letters  to  me,  from  Quincy,  mentioned  the  vast  importance  of  keep 
ing  on  good  terms  with  England." 

The  reader  cannot  be  surprised  that  such  a  man  should  work  the 
destruction  of  any  party  that  regarded  him  as  its  head  ;  indeed  that, 
with  him,  there  was  no  such  thing  as  party  ;  either  he  was  elevated 
above  ordinary  mortals,  and  studied  the  good  of  the  country  alone, 
without  regard  to  his  own  interests,  or  sunk  below  the  level  of  com 
mon-trading  politicians  who  care  for  neither  measures  nor  men,  only 
so  far  as  they  may  conspire  to  their  own  personal  elevation. 

When  the  new  Congress,  of  which  John  Randolph  was  a  mem 
ber,  assembled  at  the  Capitol  in  December,  1799,  the  federal  party 
apparently  compact,  and  with  a  majority  of  at  least  twenty  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  carried  within  it  all  the  elements  of  dis 
solution.  The  death  blow  had  been  given  by  its  own  friends,  and  it 
required  time  only  to  discover  the  causes  of  its  rapid  decay.  When 
the  extraordinary  events  of  which  we  have  spoken  were  made  known 
to  Washington,  on  the  17th  of  November,  1799,  but  a  few  weeks  be 
fore  his  death,  he  would  answer  nothing  to  them,  but  exclaimed,  "  / 
have  been  stricken  dumb!  I  have,  some  "time  past,"  says  he.  "  viewed 
the  political  concerns  of  the  United  States  with  an  anxious  and 
painful  eye.  They  appear  to  me  to  be  moving  by  hasty  strides  to  a 
crisis ;  but  in  what  it  will  result,  that  Being  who  sees,  foresees,  and 
directs  all  things,  alone  can  tell.  The  vessel  is  afloat,  or  very  nearly 
so,  and  considering  myself  as  a  passenger  only,  I  shall  trust  to  the 
mariners,  whose  duty  it  is  to  watch,  to  steer  it  into  a  safe  port." 
Thou  great  and  good  man  !  the  ship  is  afloat !  When  first  launched 
upon  the  deep,  thine  own  seamanship  guided  the  untried  vessel  o'er 
many  a  stormy  billow,  with  Scylla  and  Chary bdis  on  either  hand ; 
thy  wakeful  eye  didst  steer  right  onward ;  but  never  was  it  permit 
ted  thee,  thou  good  Palinurus,  to  see  the  ship  steered  into  a  safe  port ! 
From  amidst  thy  fellow-passengers,  all  weeping  and  gazing  in  the 
heavens,  thou  wert  borne  aloft  in  a  chariot  of  fire,  and,  by  bands  of 
celestial  spirits  heralded  into  realms  of  immortal  glory.  And  now, 
the  old  Iron-sides  having  buffeted  many  a  stormy  sea,  and  riding 
gallantly  with  all  her  banners  streaming,  hails  thee  her  first,  her  best, 
her  greatest  Captain ! 


SCENE  IN  THE  PLAYHOUSE.  157 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

SCENE    IN    THE    PLAYHOUSE — STANDING    ARMY. 

ON  the  first  day  of  January,  eighteen  hundred,  Washington  was 
dead ;  Bonaparte  First  Consul  of  France.  Our  envoys  had  been 
favorably  received.  Every  prospect  of  a  satisfactory  adjustment  of 
the  differences  between  the  two  republics,  and  no  further  need  for 
the  large  army  which  had  been  established,  and  the  other  vast  and 
expensive  military  preparations  that  had  been  projected  with  so 
much  vigor  under  the  X.  Y.  Z.  excitement.  Accordingly,  on  the  7th 
of  January,  Mr.  Nicholas,  a  leading  member  of  the  republican  party, 
moved  in  the  House  a  resolution  to  repeal  the  act  passed  the  16th  of 
July,  1798,  entitled  "An  act  to  augment  the  army  of  the  United 
States."  The  debate  lasted  for  several  days,  and  was  warm  and  ani 
mated.  On  the  10th  the  motion  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  sixty  to  thirty- 
nine.  It  was  a  strict  party  vote,  and  showed  a  majority  of  twenty- 
one  for  the  federalists..  John  Randolph,  for  the  first  time,  partici 
pated  in  the  debate  this  day.  The  part  he  performed  will  be  given 
in  his  own  words.  "  In  the  course  of  the  debates  upon  the  resolution 
of  Mr.  Nicholas,  I  took  occasion  to  say  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  ought  not  to  depend  for  their  safety  on  the  soldiers  enlisted 
under  the  laws,  the  repeal  of  which  was  the  object  of  the  resolution, 
and  casually,  but  justly,  applied  to  them  the  epithet  of  ragamuffins. 
I  also  declared  that  standing,  or  mercenary  armies,  were  inconsistent 
with  the  spirit  of  our  Constitution,  or  the  genius  of  a  free  people. 
General  Lee,  and  others,  dilated  upon  these  terms.  He  affirmed  the 
last  to  be  misapplied,  and  defined  the  word  mercenary  so  as  to  give 
it  an  application  only  to  troops  hired  for  the  defence  of  a  country 
other  than  their  own.  In  reply,  I  contended  that  there  was  no  ety 
mology  which  would  warrant  his  construction  ;  that  the  term  was  de 
rived  from  a  Latin  word  which  signified  wages,  and  did  not  embrace, 
as  he  had  declared  my  meaning  would  justify,  the  militia,  which  likewise 
receives  pay  when  in  actual  service,  but  was  exclusively  appropri 
ated  to  such  men  (whether  foreigners,  or  otherwise)  as  made  the  art 
military  a  profession,  or  trade,  and  was  properly  expressive  of  a  stand- 


158  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

ing  army  who  served  for  wages  and  by  contract,  in  contradistinction 
to  a  militia,  or  patriotic  army,  which  was  composed  of  all  ranks  of 
citizens,  equally  bound  to  fight  the  battles  of  their  country,  and  in 
which  each  contributed  his  share  to  the  public  safety,  and  who  re 
ceived  pay  only  when  in  actual  service,  to  enable  the  poorer  citizen 
to  perform  his  military  duty. 

"  In  consequence  of  my  application  of  these  terms  to  the  existing 
establishment — the  first  of  which  I  confined  to  such  recruits  as  had 
been  picked  up  in  my  own  country — a  party  of  officers,  the  principal 
agents  among  whom  were  a  Captain  M'Knight  and  a  Lieutenant  Mi 
chael  Reynolds,  both  belonging  to  the  marine  corps,  being  apprised 
that  I  was  in  the  playhouse  on  Friday  evening  last  (on  which  day 
the  resolution  was  lost,  about  six  o'clock),  came  into  the  box  where 
I  was,  and  commenced  their  operations  by  frequent  allusions,  aimed 
at  me,  to  what  was  going  on  in  the  house.  The  play  was  The  Stran 
ger,  and  the  after-piece  Bluebeard.  They  asked  one  another  if  the 
soldiers  on  the  stage  did  not  act  very  well  for  mercenaries ;  said  they 
supposed  from  their  color  (Turks)  they  were  Virginians ;  squeezed 
into  the  seat  with  evident  intention  to  incommode  us,  particularly 
myself;  and  when  we  were  leaving  the  box,  gave  me  a  twitch  by  the 
coat;  but  upon  the  author  being  demanded,  they  had  disappeared. 
On  going  down  stairs,  some  of  the  gentlemen  said  they  tried  to  push 
us  all  down  in  mass,  and  in  the  street  they  passed  with  a  rude  quick 
ness,  jostling  one  of  the  gentlemen,  and  striking  another's  foot.  In 
their  aim  upon  me  they  were  disappointed.  I  regarded  all  they  said 
with  the  most  perfect  nonchalance ;  was  unmoved  by  their  attempts 
to  insult  me,  except  when  they  offered  personal  violence  ;  and  in  con 
formity  to  what  I  thought  my  duty,  laid  a  written  complaint  before 
the  President.  To-day  (Tuesday,  the  14th)  he  sent  it  to  the  House 
with  a  letter,  in  which  he  lays  it  before  us  l  without  any  comment 
upon  its  style.'  I  must  not  omit  telling  you  that  my  feelings  were 
strongly  excited.  A  motion  was  made  to  provide  a  committee  of 
privileges,  to  whom  it  was  to  be  referred.  This  I  opposed,  express 
ing  my  surprise  that  the  letter  had  been  laid  before  us,  a  measure 
which  I  had  not  contemplated  when  I  wrote  it ;  that  I  had  addressed 
it  to  the  authority  whose  particular  duty  it  was  to  suppress  such 
conduct  in  the  military,  and  disclaimed  all  wish  to  throw  myself  upon 
the  protection  of  himself  or  of  that  House ;  that  the  privileges  of 


SCENE  IN  THE  PLAYHOUSE.  159 

Congress  being  expressly  defined  by  the  Constitution,  I  was  unwill 
ing  to  give  my  assent  to  any  measure  which  might  lead  to  enlarge 
them,  and  which,  even  if  we  had  a  right  to  adopt  it,  would  hereafter 
be  prostituted  to  nefarious  designs.  My  objection  was  overruled, 
and  a  committee  appointed  of  seven,  on  which  the  speaker  had  the 
uncommon  goodness  to  nominate  three  republicans. 

"  Perhaps  some  misguided  persons  may  be  induced  to  depreciate 
the  motives  by  which  I  have  been  actuated.  I  cannot  help  it.  My 
business  is  to  do  what  I  conceive  right,  careless  of  the  opinion  of  all. 
I  was  delighted  to  find  my  sentiments  upon  this  subject  coincided 
with  those  of  Dr.  Tucker ;  it  is  no  bad  criterion  of  the  truth  of  any 
opinion  that  it  meets  his  assent.  I  sometimes  look  back  upon  the 
principles  which  once  governed  my  moral  conduct  with  astonishment — 
how  much  to  be  regretted  it  is,  that  the  painted  phantom  of  honor 
should  be  dressed  in  such  captivating  colors  as  to  suffer  few  of  the 
nobler  minds  to  escape  her  contagious  embrace." 

The  letter  addressed  to  the  President,  after  stating  the  affair  in 
the  theatre,  proceeds  thus — "  Having  stated  the  fact,  it  would  be  de 
rogatory  to  your  character  for  me  to  point  out  the  remedy.  So  far 
as  they  relate  to  this  application  addressed  to  you  in  a  public  capaci 
ty,  they  can  only  be  supposed  by  you  to  be  of  a  public  nature.  It  is 
enough  for  me  to  state,  that  the  independence  of  the  legislature  has 
been  attacked,  and  the  majesty  of  the  people,  of  which  you  are  the 
principal  representative,  insulted,  and  your  authority  contemned. 
In  their  name,  I  demand  that  a  provision  commensurate  with  the  evil 
be  made,  and  which  will  be  calculated  to  deter  others  from  any  future 
attempt  to  introduce  the  reign  of  terror  into  our  country.  In  ad 
dressing  you  in  this  plain  language  of  man,  I  give  you,  sir,  the  best 
proof  I  can  afford  of  the  estimation  in  which  I  hold  your  office  and 
your  understanding ;  and  I  assure  you  with  truth,  that  I  am  with  re 
spect,  your  fellow-citizen, 

"  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

"  Chamber  H.  Representatives  Jan.  11, — 24th  Independence. 
«  To  the  President  of  the  U.  States." 

The  reader  perceives  here  none  of  those  courtly  and  unmeaning 
(if  not  worse)  phrases  that  usually  begin  and  end  the  epistles  address 
ed  to  high  functionaries  by  those  who  seek  to  gain  their  favor  by  ob- 


160  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

sequiousness  and  flattery — To  his  Excellency,  the  President  of  the 
United  States — Your  most  obedient  and  humble  servant — none  of 
that,  but  an  unvarnished,  straight-forward  statement  of  facts  ;  he  tells 
the  President  that  the  independence  of  the  legislature  has  been  at 
tacked,  the  majesty  of  the  people  insulted,  and  demands  that  he, 
their  chief  representative,  shall  make  some  provision  adequate  to  pre 
vent  the  reign  of  terror  from  being  introduced  into  the  country.  The 
whole  letter  was  conceived  in  a  stern,  independent,  republican  spirit, 
and  ought  not,  we  would  suppose,  to  have  given  offence  to  any  one 
who  understood  and  duly  appreciated  the  term  fellow-citizen. 

This  letter  the  President  thought  proper  on  the  14th  of  the 
month  to  communicate  to  the  House — "  As  the  inclosed  letter,"  says 
he.  "from  a  member  of  your  body,  received  by  me  on  the  night  of 
Saturday  the  llth  inst.,  relates  to  the  privileges  of  the  House,  which 
in  my  opinion  ought  to  be  inquired  into  by  the  House  itself,  if  any 
where.  I  have  thought  proper  to  submit  the  whole  letter  and  its 
tendencies  to  your  consideration,  without  any  other  comments  on  its 
matter  and  style."  It  is  very  plain  what  he  and  Pickering  thought 
about  both. 

The  committee  appointed  to  take  this  matter  of  privilege  into  con 
sideration,  consisted  of  Messrs.  Chauncey,  Groodrich,  Macon,  Kittera, 
Jones,  Sewell,  Robert  Williams,  and  Bayard — Mr.  Macon  was  ex 
cused  and  Mr.  Hanna  appointed  in  his  stead. 

Messrs.  Goodrich,  Kittera,  Sewell,  and  Bayard,  constituting  the 
majority  of  the  committee,  were  the  most  distinguished  and  influen 
tial  members  of  the  federal  party  in  the  House. 

On  the  18th,  Mr.  Randolph  addressee^,  the  following  commu 
nication  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  : — "  A  mature  considera 
tion  of  the  subject  induces  me  to  suspect,  that  a  refusal  on  my  part 
to  communicate  the  information  requested  by  you  a  few  days  ago, 
could  only  have  originated  in  a  false  delicacy,  under  whose  impulse 
I  am  determined  never  to  act  ;  I  shall  therefore  proceed  to  state 
some  instances  of  the  misconduct  of  Capt.  M'Knight  and  Lieut.  Rey 
nolds,  on  the  night  of  Friday,  the  1  Oth  instant. 

';  Exclusive  of  repeated  assertions  to  what  passed  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  during  the  debate  of  the  preceding  day,  and  a  fre 
quent  repetition  of  some  words  which  fell  from  me  during  that  dis 
cussion,  in  a  manner  so  marked  as  to  leave  no  doubt  on  my  mind,  or 


SCENE  IN  THE  PLAYHOUSE.  161 

that  of  Messrs.  Van  Rensselaer,  Christie,  or  Macon,  of  their  intention 
to  insult  me  personally  ;  finding  me  determined  to  take  no  notice 
of  their  words,  they  adopted  a  conduct  which  placed  their  designs  be 
yond  every  possibility  of  doubt,  and  which  they  probably  conceived 
to  be  calculated  to  force  me  into  their  measures.  Mr.  Christie  had 
left  his  seat  between  me  and  the  partition  of  the  box ;  after  which, 
Mr.  Van  Rensselaer,  who  sat  on  the  other  side  of  me,  laid  down,  so 
as  to  occupy  a  more  than  ordinary  portion  of  room,  and  occasioned 
my  removal  to  a  part  of  Mr.  Christie's  former  seat,  leaving  a  very 
small  vacancy  between  myself  and  the  partition.  Into  this  Lieut. 
Reynolds  suddenly r,  and  without  requesting  or  giving  time  for  room 
to  be  made  for  him,  dropped  with  such  violence  as  to  bring  our  hips 
into  contact.  The  shock  was  sufficient  to  occasion  a  slight  degree  of 
pain  on  my  part,  and  for  which  it  is  probable  he  would  in  some  de 
gree  have  apologized,  had  not  the  act  been  intentional.  Just  before 
I  left  the  box,  one  of  them,  I  believe  M' Knight,  gave  me  a  sudden 
and  violent  pull  by  the  cape  of  my  coat.  Upon  my  demanding  who 
it  was,  (this  was  the  first  instance  in  which  I  noticed  their  proceed 
ings,)  no  answer  was  given.  I  then  added,  that  I  had  long  perceived 
an  intention  to  insult  me,  and  that  the  person  offering  it  was  a  pup 
py.  No  reply  that  I  heard  was  made. 

"  It  will  be  impossible  for  me,  sir,  to  specify  the  various  minute 
actions  of  these  persons  and  their  associates,  which  tended  to  the 
same  point.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  their  whole  deportment  exhibited 
an  insolence,  and  their  every  act  betokened  a  bold  defiance,  which 
can  nether  be  defined  nor  mistaken,  and  which,  according  to  the  gene 
rally  received  opinions  of  the  world,  not  only  would  have  justified, 
but  demanded  chastisement. 

"  Referring  the  committee  to  the  numerous  and  authentic  ac 
counts  of  this  transaction,  which  the  gentlemen  present  are  so  well 
calculated  to  give,  I  remain  with  respect,  sir, 

"  Your  fellow-citizen, 

"JOHN  RANDOLPH." 

Those  gentlemen,  Mr.  Christie,  Mr.  Macon,  Mr.  Nicholson,  and 
others,  men  of  great  respectability,  and  members  of  Congress,  did 
confirm  in  every  particular  the  above  statement.  There  rested  not 
the  shadow  of  a  doubt  on  their  mind,  that  Reynolds  and  M'Knight 


162  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

intended  to  insult  Mr.  Randolph,  and  to  inflict  personal  injury  on 
him,  for  woids  spoken  in  debate. 

The  only  testimony  in  opposition  to  those  gentlemen  of  such 
high  respectability,  and  Mr.  Randolph's  own  statement,  so  detailed 
and  explicit,  was  the  declaration  of  those  persons  themselves.  Their 
testimony  is  evidently  an  equivocation :  they  say  they  did  not  go  to 
the  theatre  with  the  intention  of  insulting  Mr.  Randolph.  '•  I 
did  not  know,"  says  M'Knight,  "  Mr.  Randolph  was  to  be  at  the 
theatre,  nor  do  I  ever  recollect  seeing  him  previous  to  Friday  even 
ing  ;  and,  from  his  youthful  appearance  and  dress^  I  had  no  idea  of 
his  being  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives."  All  this  may 
be  very  true,  and  yet  after  reaching  there,  it  is  very  evident  they 
conceived  the  idea  of  insulting  and  injuring  him. 

The  committee,  after  collecting  all  the  evidence  they  could  find 
material  in  the  case,  report  the  following  resolutions  : 

Resolved,  That  this  House  entertains  a  respectful  sense  of  the  re 
gard  which  the  President  of  the  United  States  has  shown  to  its 
rights  and  privileges,  in  his  message  of  the  14th  instant,  accompanied 
by  a  letter  addressed  to  him  by  John  Randolph,  Jun.,  a  member  of 
this  House. 

Resolved^  That  in  respect  to  the  charge  alleged  by  John  Ran 
dolph,  Jun.,  a  member  of  this  House,  in  his  letter  addressed  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  on  the  eleventh  instant,  and  by  him 
submitted  to  the  consideration  of  this  House,  that  sufficient  cause 
does  not  appear  for  the  interposition  of  this  House,  on  the  ground  of 
a  breach  of  its  privileges. 

The  first  resolution  was  passed  without  a  division.  To  the  se 
cond,  several  amendments  were  offered,  going  to  censure  M'Knight 
and  Reynolds,  but  were  rejected.  Then  the  resolution  itself  was  re 
jected,  by  a  majority  of  twelve,  showing  that  even  that  House  were 
not  prepared  to  sacrifice  their  privileges,  which  had  been  so  evidently 
and  wantonly  insulted  and  trampled  on.  The  Speaker  then  ruled 
all  further  action  on  the  subject  out  of  order,  and  so  shoved  it  aside. 

"We  leave  Mr.  Randolph's  friend  and  contemporary,  William 
Thompson,  to  make  his  commentaries  on  these  transactions,  the  more 
valuable  as  the  spontaneous  eifusions  of  an  ingenuous  and  noble 
rnind : — "  The  committee,"  says  he,  "  who  sat  to  examine  the  charge 
against  several  minions  of  executive  power,  which,  of  all  that  can  be 


SCENE  IN  THE  PLAY-HOUSE.  163 

"brought  against  men,  was  most  serious,  as  being  most  destructive  to 
the  liberties  of  America — the  committee  who  were  called  on  to  say 
whether  the  privileges  of  the  House  should  be  prostrated,  as  the  privi 
leges  of  the  people  have  been — the  committee  who  were  called  on  to 
decide  whether  a  set  of  armed  ruffians  should  surround  the  capitol, 
and  dictate  our  laws — this  committee  have  determined,  that  although 
there  were  some  circumstances  (language  of  the  report)  which  deserved 
censure,  yet  they  were  not  of  such  a  nature  as  to  be  considered  a 
breach  of  the  privileges  of  the  House.  Admit  the  meaning  which 
they  wish  to  give  to  some  circumstances,  I  say,  if  there  were  any  cir 
cumstance,  no  matter  how  trivial  in  its  nature  it  may  be,  if  on  the 
most  rigid  inquiry  it  can  be  found  that  a  legislator  is  insulted  for  his 
official  conduct,  that  the  man  who  insults  offers  an  insult  to  the  peo 
ple  ;  and  that  the  men  who  do  not,  when  called  on,  inflict  all  the 
punishment  their  power  licenses,  is  an  enemy,  are  enemies  to  the 
liberty  of  America.  What,  sir,  will  result  from  the  decision  of  that 
committee  1  The  republicans  are  liable  to  daily  and  hourly  insults — 
the  soldiers  of  Philadelphia  are  to  be  raised  to  a  Pretorian  band — 
our  measures  are  to  be  dictated  by  the  willing  foes  of  our  liberty — 
and  virtuous  opposition  is  to  be  silenced  by  the  bayonet.  Let  me 
not  be  told  that  these  apprehensions  are  ridiculous  ;  I  say  they  are 
grounded  in  the  full  conviction,  that  the  military  mob  is  supported  by 
the  administration,  and  that  administration  will  make  great  sacrifices 
to  their  love  of  power.  I  say  it  is  grounded  on  a  conviction  that  this 
army  is  not  now  kept  up  to  secure  us  from  invasion ;  but  that  it  con 
templates  something,  and  I  fear  that  something  is  injurious  to  my 
country.  That  the  insults  you  received  were  not  offered  to  you  as 
an  individual,  is  certain ;  for  as  an  individual,  separate  from  your 
principles,  I  perceive  they  knew  you  not ;  it  is  certain,  because  your 
words  were  quoted.  Not  content  with  debasing  us  in  fact,  they  wish 
to  debase  us  even  in  appearance — they  cavil  at  your  words.  Had 
you  addressed  the  President  in  courtly  style,  they  would  forgive  the 
contents  of  your  letter ;  addressing  him  as  you  have  done,  we  applaud 
the  conduct,  and  we  rejoice  there  is  one  man  left  us  whose  principles 
and  whose  manners  stand  uncorrupted  in  these  corrupted  times. 
I  say  we,  for  I  speak  the  language  of  many ;  I  say  we,  for  I 
speak  the  language  of  your  State.  The  persecutions  of  a  faction 
have  made  you  more  dear  to  us.  Not  that  your  merits  are  in- 


164  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

creased  by  circumstances,  but  because  this  is  a  glaring  instance 
amongst  many,  that  men  are  persecuted  as  the  organs  of  principles. 
This  committee  have  done  more,  anxious  that  no  opportunity  should 
be  lost  to  liquidate  part  of  the  great  debt  of  adulation,  they  have  inter 
woven  a  motion  of  thanks  to  the  President  for  the  respectful  sense  he 
has  shown  of  their  privileges.  Whither  does  this  lead  ?  Is  it  not  to 
be  apprehended,  that  by  this  conduct  your  rights  are  to  be  changed 
into  courtesy,  that  your  rights  are  to  hang  on  the  nod  of  your  Presi 
dent  ?  Does  this  man  deserve  thanks  for  the  compliance  with  his 
official  duties  ?  Does  he  deserve  thanks  for  doing  that  for  which  he 
is  paid  by  his  country  ?  The  friends  of  America  look  at  this  affair 
with  wonder  and  with  horror.  The  timid  part  of  the  community  say 
we  will  not  send  a  man  whose  principles  are  obnoxious,  for  fear  of 
consequences ;  the  patriots  of  your  State  say  we  will  send  men  who 
dare  to  speak  the  truth,  no  matter  in  whose  ears  it  is  grating.  But 
it  was  disrespectful  to  call  him  fellow-citizen  !  Yes.  he  is  not  a  fel 
low-citizen,  because  he  is  chief  officer,  he  is  alienated  by  promotion. 
There  is  more  truth  in  his  having  been  aliened  than  they  would 
admit.  I  will  forget  for  a  moment  that  I  am  personally  acquainted 
with  you,  and  state,  that  you  evinced  in  this  affair  an  intrepid  cool 
ness,  a  firmness,  and  calmness,  which  must  convince  every  man,  not 
sworn  to  partiality,  that  every  word  of  your  evidence  is  most  rigid 
truth.  But  your  remark  of  mercenary  and  ragamuffin  was  gall 
ing  to  certain  men  in  that  House  ;  your  arguments  throughout  the 
whole  were  unanswerable ;  and  your  naked  truths  (for  I  will  adopt 
your  very  appropriate  expression)  were  dangerous  to  men  who,  un 
veiled,  are  damned." 

This  affair  created,  at  the  time,  great  excitement  through  the 
country.  It  was  considered  as  but  one  of  a  series  of  events  that  had 
for  their  end  the  subjugation  of  the  people  to  the  will  of  the  federal 
oligarchy.  The  enormous  public  debt,  which  was  daily  increasing  by 
heavy  loans  at  usurious  interest,  the  funding  system,  the  National 
Bank,  the  recently-created  navy  establishment,  and  large  standing 
army  without  an  enemy  or  the  prospect  of  an  enemy,  the  alien  and 
the  sedition  laws  in  active  operation,  sparing  neither  station  nor  age, 
had  given  an  alarming  and  a  powerful  centralizing  action  to  the 
Government.  And  it  was  thought  that  the  evil  tendencies  of  all  those 
measures  were  now  consummated  in  the  humiliation  of  the  legisla- 


SCENE  IN  THE  PLAY-HOUSE.  165 

ture  to  executive  authority,  and  its  tame  submission  to  the  arrogance 
of  military  pride.  The  trivial  occurrence  in  the  theatre,  giving  an 
opportunity  to  the  President  to  display  his  petulant  temper  and  his 
high  sense  of  official  consequence,  and  to  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  to  manifest  their  subservient  spirit,  proved  to  be  a  very  serious 
business.  The  people,  more  sagacious  than  they  have  credit  for 
among  some  politicians,  saw  at  once  the  tendency  of  these  proceedings  ; 
and  Randolph  was  hailed  throughout  the  Union  as  the  champion  of 
the  rights  of  the  people.  The  very  morning  (15th  January)  his  cor 
respondence  with  the  President  appeared  in  the  Philadelphia  papers, 
and  before  any  action  thereon  by  the  House,  he  received  a  communi 
cation  professing  to  convey  tlie  sentiments  of  a  number  of  respectable 
citizens.  "  It  is  our  decided  opinion,"  say  they,  "  that  the  person  of 
a  delegate  in  Congress  ought  to  be  as  sacred  from  public  or  private 
insult  as  the  person  of  an  ambassador  to  a  foreign  power.  Should  this 
flagrant  violation  of  the  privilege  of  a  member  of  your  House  which 
has  been  offered  to  your  person  be  winked  at,  may  not  enterprising 
men  introduce  parties  into  the  House,  which,  by  putting  its  members 
in  bodily  fear,  will  completely  shackle  the  freedom  of  debate,  and 
thereby  injure  the  public  good  ?"  They  then  proceed  to  thank  him  for 
having  the  boldness  candidly  to  avow  the  real  sentiments  of  his  heart, 
with  a  huge  capital  R  and  a  tremendous  underscoring  of  the  word  real 
in  the  original  document,  which  is  now  before  us.  We  might  infer  from 
this  that  such  boldness  was  very  unusual  at  that  time.  And  indeed  it 
was  true.  Madison  had  retired  before  the  storm ;  so  had  Giles  and  the 
plain  blunt-spoken  Finlay,  of  Pennsylvania.  Grallatin  was  still  there  ; 
but  he  was  not  the  man  for  the  crisis ;  he  was  a  foreigner,  modest, 
plain  in  his  elocution,  and  dealt  more  in  facts  and  figures  of  arith 
metic  than  those  bold  metaphors  and  figures  of  speech  so  essential  to 
arouse  and  interest  the  people.  The  whole  House  might  slumber 
under  Gallatin's  demonstrations,  while  one  schrill  echo  of  Randolph's 
voice  would  wake  the  seven  sleepers.  Matthew  Lyon  is  seen  among 
the  silent  voters ;  but  three  months'  imprisonment  last  winter  in  a 
dungeon,  not  six  feet  square,  under  the  sedition  law,  for  daring  to 
publish  words  in  disparagement  of  the  President,  has  cooled  his  Irish 
temper,  and  awed  him  into  silence.  This  Harry  Hotspur,  therefore, 
or  young  cornet  of  horse,  burst  suddenly  among  them  like  a  sky 
rocket.  His  boldness,  his  eloquence,  his  youthful  appearance,  struck 


LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

them  with  astonishment.  But  who  can  tell  the  effect  of  those  naked 
truths,  which  fell  like  hot  shot  among  the  enemy,  all  intrenched  and 
secure,  as  they  supposed  themselves,  behind  their  formidable  walls  ! 
John  Thompson's  prediction  was  fulfilled  in  the  very  outset  of  his 
career :  He  will  become  an  object  of  admiration  and  terror  to  the  ene 
mies  of  liberty  ! 


CHAPTEE    XXIY. 

MAKE  TO  YOURSELF  AN   IDOL,    AND,   IN   SPITE   OF  THE  DECA 
LOGUE,   WORSHIP  IT. 

DURING  the  winter  and  spring  of  1800  he  kept  up  a  regular  cor 
respondence  with  his  friend,  William  Thompson,  who,  the  reader 
knows,  had  found  a  home  and  an  asylum  in  his  misfortunes  under  the 
hospitable  roof  of  Bizarre.  The  soothing  temper  he  manifests  towards 
that  unfortunate  youth,  the  sound  advice  he  gave  him,  so  fraught  with 
wisdom  and  a  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  his  judicious  and 
well-timed  encouragement,  to  arouse  from  his  lethargy  and  become 
the  man  he  was  capable  of  being,  present  the  character  of  John  Ran 
dolph  in  a  pleasing  point  of  view,  and  explain  in  a  measure  those 
traits  of  mind  and  disposition,  known  only  to  a  few,  that  made  him 
such  an  object  of  devoted  friendship  on  the  part  of  those  who  were 
honored  by  his  intimate  regard. 

John  Randolph,  jun    to  his  friend  and  brother,  William  Thompson. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Dec.  31,  24th  year. 

"  Your  letter  was  peculiarly  acceptable  to  me.  It  relieved  me 
from  considerable  anxiety  on  account  of  your  health,  to  the  ill  state 
of  which  I  attributed  that  suspension  of  our  correspondence,  which 
has  originated  in  the  derangement  of  the  post  office  department ;  it 
contained  assurances  of  that  regard  of  which  I  never  entertained  a 
doubt,  but  which,  nevertheless,  were  extremely  gratifying  to  me  ;  but 
above  all  it  put  my  mind  at  ease  upon  a  subject  which  has  been  pro 
ductive  of  considerable  concern.  I  mean  your  change  of  residence, 
which,  as  you  will  find  by  my  last,  I  understood  you  had  removed 


IDOL- WORSHIP.  167 

to  Chinquepin  Church — not  knowing  your  reasons  for  leaving  Bi 
zarre,  I  could  not  combat.  Great,  however,  was  my  surprise  and 
pleasure  to  receive  a  letter  from  Judy  (Mrs.  Richard  Randolph)  and 
yourself;  both  of  which  relieved  my  anxiety  upon  this  head.  I  am, 
moreover,  charmed,  my  friend,  that  you  are  resolutely  bent  upon 
study,  and  have  made  some  progress  therein.  Let  me  conjure  you 
to  adhere  inflexibly  to  this  rational  pursuit.  Your  destiny  is  in  your 
own  hands.  Regular  employment  is  of  all  medicines  the  most  effect 
ual  for  a  wounded  mind.  If  the  sympathy  of  a  friend  who  loves  you 
because  yo«  are  amiable  and  unfortunate  ;  because  you  are  the  rep 
resentative  of  that  person  (John  Thompson  died  January,  1799)  who 
held  the  first  place  in  his  heart,  and  the  first  rank  in  the  intellectual 
order ;  if  my  uniform  friendship,  my  dear  Thompson,  could  heal  the 
wounds  of  your  heart,  never  should  it  know  a  pang.  Your  situation 
is  of  all  others  the  one  most  eminently  calculated  to  repair,  so  far  as 
it  is  possible,  the  ills  which  you  have  sustained.  An  amiable  woman, 
who  regards  you  as  a  brother,  who  shares  your  griefs,  and  will  admin 
ister  as  far  as  she  can  to  your  consolation,  who  unites  to  talents  of 
the  first  order  a  degree  of  cultivation  uncommon  in  any  country,  but 
especially  in  ours — such  a  woman  is  under  the  same  roof  with  you. 
Cultivate  a  familiarity  with  her ;  each  day  will  give  you  new  and  un 
expected  proof  of  the  strength  of  her  mind,  and  the  extent  of  her 
information.  Books  you  have  at  command;  your  retirement  is 
unbroken.  Such  a  situation  is,  in  my  opinion,  the  best  calculated  for 
a  young  man  (under  any  circumstances)  who  will  study ;  or  even  for 
one  who  is  determined  to  be  indolent.  Female  society,  in  my  eye,  is 
an  indispensable  requisite  in  forming  the  manly  character.  That 
which  is  offered  to  you  is  not  to  be  paralleled,  perhaps,  in  the  world. 
You  call  on  me,  my  friend,  for  advice.  You  bid  me  regard  your 
foibles  with  a  lenient  eye;  you  anticipate  the  joy  which  I  shall 
derive  from  your  success.  I  will  not  permit  n  yself  to  doubt  of 
it.  You  shall  succeed — you  must.  You  have  it  in  your  power. 
Exertion  only  is  necessary.  You  owe  it  to  the  memory  of  our 
departed  brother,  to  yourself,  to  me,  to  your  country,  to  human 
ity  !  Apprised  that  you  have  foibles  to  eradicate,  the  work  is 
more  than  half  accomplished.  I  will  point  them  out  with  a  friendly 
yet  lenient  hand.  You  will  not  shrink  from  the  probe,  know 
ing  that  in  communicating  present  pain  your  ultimate  cure  and 


163  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

safety  is  the  object  of  the  friendly  operator.  If  I  supposed  myself 
capable  of  inflicting  intentional  and  wanton  pain  upon  your  feelings, 
I  should  shrink  with  abhorrence  from  myself.  In  the  course  of  my 
strictures  I  may,  perhaps,  appear  abrupt.  I  am  now  pressed  for 
time. 

"  Self-examination,  when  cool  and  impartial,  is  the  best  of  all  cor 
rectives.  It  is  a  general  and  trite  observation  that  man  knows  his 
fellows  better  than  himself.  This  is  too  true  ;  but  it  depends  upon 
every  individual  to  exhibit,  in  himself,  a  refutation  of  this  received 
maxim.  Retirement  and  virtuous  society  fit  the  mind  for  this  task. 

"  Among  your  foibles  I  have  principally  observed  unsteadiness  ;  a 
precipitate  decision,  and  the  want  of  mature  reflection,  generally.  It 
would  be  uncandid  to  determine  your  character  by  these  traits,  which 
originate,  perhaps,  or  are  at  least  heightened,  by  the  uneasiness  which 
preys  upon  your  mind,  which  renders  you  more  than  usually  restless. 
Endeavor,  my  friend,  to  act  less  upon  momentary  impulse ;  pause, 
reflect ;  think  much  and  speak  little ;  form  a  steadiness  of  demeanor, 
and  having  once  resolved,  persevere.  Read,  but  do  not  devour,  books. 
Compare  your  information ;  digest  it.  In  short,  according  to  the 
old  proverb,  "  Make  haste  slowly."  There  is  one  point  upon  which 
I  must  enjoin  you  to  beware.  You  appeared  restless,  when  I  saw 
you,  to  change  your  property.  Let  things  stand  as  they  are  a  little. 
Facilis  discensus,  sed  revocare  gradum,  hoc  opus.  (Excuse,  I  beseech 
you,  this  pitiful  display  of  learning.) 

"  The  Due  de  la  Rochefoucault — who,  by  the  by,  is  a  bad  moral 
preceptor — has,  among  others,  this  very  excellent  maxim :  '  We  are 
never  made  so  ridiculous  by  the  qualities  we  possess,  as  by  those 
which  we  affect  to  have.'  I  never  knew  a  man  who  would  not  profit 
of  this  observation.  To  preserve  your  own  esteem,  merit  it.  I  have 
no  fear  that  you  will  ever  render  yourself  unworthy  of  its  greatest 
good.  Yet,  a  man  who  is  so  unfortunate  as  to  lose  his  own  good 
opinion,  is  wrong  to  despair.  It  may  be  retrieved.  He  ought  to  set 
about  it  immediately,  as  the  only  reparation  which  he  can  make  to 
himself  or  society.  The  ill  opinion  of  mankind  is  often  misplaced  ; 
Imt  our  own  of  ourselves  never. 

"  Pardon,  my  dear  brother,  this  pedantic  and  didactic  letter.  Its 
sententiousness  is  intolerable,  yet  it,  was  almost  unavoidable.  I  had 
written  till  my  fingers  were  cramped.  The  hour  of  closing  the  mail 


IDOL- WORSHIP. 

approached,  and  I  was  obliged  to  throw  my  sentiments  into  the  offen 
sive  form  of  dogmas.  That  I,  who  abound  in  foibles,  and,  to  speak 
truth,  vices — that  I  should  pretend  to  dogmatize,  may  appear  to  many 
arrogant  indeed.  Yet,  let  them  recollect  that  we  are  all  frail,  and 
should  sustain  each  other ;  and  that  the  truth  of  a  precept  is  not  de 
termined  by  the  practice  of  him  who  promulges  it.  Go  on,  my  dear 
Thompson,  and  prosper.  I  regret  that  I  am  debarred  the  pleasure  of 
sharing  your  literary  labors,  and  of  that  interchange  of  sentiment 
which  constitutes  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  my  enjoyment.  To  our 
amiable  sister — for  such  she  considers  herself  with  respect  to  you — I 
commit  you,  confident  that  your  own  exertion,  aided  by  her  society, 
will  form  you  such  as  your  friend  will  rejoice  to  behold  you.  Write 
to  him  frequently  I  beseech  you  ;  cheer  his  solitary  and  miserable  ex 
istence  with  the  well  known  characters  of  friendship.  Adieu,  my 
dear  brother." 

Willmm  Thompson  to  John  Randolph. 

"  DEAR  JACK, — I  am  not  ceremonious.  I  feel  a  conviction  that 
your  silence  does  not  proceed  from  a  want  of  regard,  but  from  a 
cause  more  important  to  the  world,  to  yourself,  and,  if  possible,  more 
distressing  to  me  than  the  loss  of  that  place  in  your  heart,  on  which 
depends  my  future  prosperity.  I  had  fondly  hoped  that  the  change 
of  scene,  and  the  novelty  of  business,  would  have  dissipated  that  me 
lancholy  which  overhung  you.  To  see  my  friend  return  happy  and 
well,  was  the  only  wish  of  my  heart. 

"  To  the  man  who  is  not  devoted  to  unnatural  dissipations,  a 
great  city  has  no  charms :  it  awakens  the  most  painful  sensations  in 
the  breast  of  the  philanthropist  and  patriot.  It  is  disgusting  to  be 
hold  such  a  mass  of  vice,  and  all  its  attendant  deformities,  cherished 
in  the  bosom  of  an  enlightened  country.  Prostitutions  of  body,  and 
still  greater  prostitution  of  mind,  excite  our  pity  and  hatred.  The 
political  life  has  not  those  attractions  to  the  virtuous  which  it  once 
had,  and  which  it  ought  still  to  have  in  this  country.  The  spirit  of 
party  has  extinguished  the  spirit  of  liberty.  The  enlightened  orator 
must  be  shocked  at  the  willing  stupidity  of  his  auditors.  Our  exer 
tions  are  vain  and  impotent.  Every  man  is  the  avowed  friend  of  a 
party.  Converts  to  reason  are  not  to  be  found  •  whilst  converts  to 
interest  are  innumerable. 

VOL.  i.  8 


170  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

"  You  know  I  promised  not  to  visit  Richmond.  I  have  rigidly 
adhered  to  that.  I  felt  a  necessity  of  cooling  down.  I  foreboded 
the  acquirement  of  dissipated  habits,  which  would  haunt  me  unceas 
ingly.  I  saw  that  the  patronage  of  the  virtuous  would  awaken  an 
emulation  in  me  to  attain  their  perfection.  I  feel  confident  that  if 
my  friends  bear  a  little  longer  with  my  foibles,  they  will  be  corrected. 
I  look  forward  with  honest  pride  to  the  day  when  I  shall  merit  the 
regard — when,  by  my  conduct  and  by  my  principles,  I  shall  make 
some  retribution  for  the  exalted  generosity  which  I  have  met  with 
from  your  family.  I  am  not  made  of  such  stern  stuff  as  to  resist 
singly  ;  but  the  idea  of  friendship  will  steel  my  heart  against  temp 
tation.  Since  you  left  me,  I  have  been  generally  at  home,  conscious 
how  little  I  merit  regard.  That  which  I  feel  for  your  amiable 
family  may  perhaps  appear  presumption,  yet  the  thought  of  losing  it 
is  stinging.  *  *  *  To  your  sister,  your  most  amiable  sister,  I  try  to 
render  myself  agreeable.  There  is  a  gentleness  of  manners,  an  uni 
formity  of  conduct,  and  a  majesty  of  virtue,  which  seem  to  render 
admiration  presumptuous." 

John  Randolph  to  his  brother,  William  Thompson. 

"  Your  letter,  my  dear  Thompson,  has  communicated  to  my  heart 
a  satisfaction  to  which  it  has  not  been  at  all  familiar.  It  has  proved 
beyond  dispute  that  the  energies  of  your  mind,  however  neglected  by 
yourself,  or  relaxed  by  misfortune,  have  been  suspended,  but  not  im 
paired  ;  and  that  the  strength  of  your  understanding  has  not  been 
unequal  to  the  ordeal  of  misfortune,  of  which  few  are  calculated  to 
bear  the  test.  Proceed,  my  friend,  in  the  path  in  which  you  now 
move ;  justify  those  lively  hopes  which  I  have  never  ceased  to  enter 
tain,  or  to  express,  of  your  future  attainments  :  in  the  words,  al 
though  not  in  the  sense  of  the  poet,  let  me  exhort  you,  '  carpe  diem.' 
The  past  is  not  in  our  power  to  recall.  The  future  we  can  neither 
foresee  nor  control.  The  present  alone  is  at  our  disposal :  on  the  use 
to  which  it  is  applied,  depends  the  whole  of  what  is  estimable  or 
amiable  in  human  character." 

Poor  Thompson  went  to  Petersburg  about  this  time  (February, 
or  March,  1800),  and  got  entangled  in  a  way  that  most  young  men 
of  his  temper  are  apt  to  be.  He  shall  tell  the  story  in  his  own  way. 
After  getting  back  to  Bizarre,  in  April,  he  thus  writes : 


IDOL-WORSHIP.  171 

"  You  will  be  surprised,  dear  brother,  when  you  are  informed, 
that  my  stay  in  Petersburg  was  protracted  by  a  circumstance  against 
which  you  warned  me  in  a  letter  some  time  past.  1  allude  to  Mrs. 

B .  Nature  has  compensated  for  mental  imperfection,  by  bodily 

perfection  in  that  woman.  And  my  attachment  to  her  corroborates 
a  heresy  in  love,  that  desire  is  a  powerful  ingredient.  Her  mind  is 
not  cultivated,  her  disposition  is  not  calculated  to  make  a  man  of 
my  enthusiasm  in  regard  happy.  Fully  aware  of  these  circum 
stances,  I  cherished  her  name  as  dear.  Thus  situated,  let  me  ask 
you  a  question.  Had  you  been  told — nay,  had  you  known  that  this 
woman  was  the  victim  of  infamous  oppression — that  these  charms 
had  been  wrested  from  your  possession  by  unfeeling  relations  (they 
were  engaged  when  he  went  to  Europe  in  1798),  that  your  name  was 
dear,  her  husband's  name  odious — that  on  you  she  looked  with  ten 
derness,  and  on  him  with  hatred,  what  line  of  conduct  would  you 
adopt  ?  *  *  *  I  had  resolved  to  shun  her,  and  in  truth  did  ;  but  that 
fate,  which  shows  refinement  in  its  policy,  forced  me  to  an  interview. 
******  After  several  resolutions,  some  ridiculous  (as  is  usual 
in  such  cases),  and  one  which  had  near  proved  fatal,  I  fled  to  the 
asylum  of  the  distressed  (wisely  thought  of),  to  the  spot  where  ten 
der  friendship  forms  a  character  exalted  to  a  height,  which  makes 
the  feebler  of  her  sex  look  low  indeed,  would  make  me  blush  at  my 
folly,  and  banish  the  idea  of  a  baneful  passion.  I  will  not  recapitu 
late  the  wrongs  of  fortune,  but  I  fondly  hope  that  they  will  plead  in 
apology  for  the  failings  of  your  friend." 

Now  for  the  answer;  and  let  every  young  man,  and  young 
woman  too,  ponder  well  upon  it. 

"April  19,  24  year. — To-day  I  received  your  letter  of  the  12th. 
It  has  unravelled  a  mystery,  for  whose  solution  I  have  before  searched 
in  vain.  That  you  should  have  been  in  Petersburg,  sighing  at  the 
feet  of  the  fair  Mrs.  B.,  is  what  I  did  not  expect  to  learn,  since  I 
supposed  you  all  the  while  in  Sussex.  I  am  now  not  at  all  surprised 
at  your  silence,  during  this  period  of  amorous  intoxication  ;  since 
nothing  so  completely  unfits  a  man  for  intercourse  with  any  other 
than  the  object  of  his  infatuation. 

"  The  answer  to  your  questions  is  altogether  easy.  In  the  first 
place,  it  is  not  true,  because  it  cannot  be  true,  that  this  lady  was 
compelled  to  the  step  which  she  has  taken.  What  force  could  be 


172  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

brought  to  act  upon  her,  which  materials  as  hard  as  wax  would  not 
resist?  The  truth  is,  if  ever  she  felt  an  attachment  to  you,  she 
sacrificed  it  to  avarice  5  not  because  money  was  the  end,  but  the 
means,  of  gratification  ;  her  vanity,  the  ruling  passion  of  every  mind 
as  imbecile  as  her  own,  delighted  in  the  splendor  which  wealth  alone 
could  procure.  At  this  time  the  same  passion,  which  is  one  of  the 
vilest  modifications  of  self-love,  would  gratify  itself  with  a  little  co 
quetry  ;  and  if  your  prudence  has  not  exceeded  that  of  the  lady,  it  has 
gone,  I  fear,  greater  lengths  than  she  at  first  apprehended.  Nor 
have  you,  my  friend,  done  this  woman  a  good  office,  in  rendering  her 
discontented  with  her  lot,  by  suffering  her  to  persuade  herself  that 
she  is  in  love  with  you,  and  that  oppression  alone  has  driven  her  to 
a  detested  union  with  a  detestable  brute,  for  such  (on  all  hands,  I  be 
lieve,  it  is  agreed)  is  Mr.  B.  Never  did  I  see  a  woman  apparently 
better  pleased  with  her  situation.  She  did  not  lose  one  penny 
weight  of  her  very  comfortable  quantity  of  flesh ;  and,  however  she 
might  have  hesitated  between  my  friend  and  the  cash,  minus  the 
possessor,  had  you  been  on  the  spot  to  contest  your  right  to  her 
very  fair  hand,  yet  W.  T.,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  or 
perhaps  at  the  bottom  of  it,  was  no  rival  to  the  solid  worth  of  her 
now  cara  sposa.  Perhaps,  in  the  first  instance,  she  might  have  dis 
liked  the  man,  for  good  reasons ;  and  in  the  second,  for  no  reason 
at  all,  but  because  her  relations  were  very  anxious  for  the  match  ; 
but  be  assured  her  imagination  was  not  sufficiently  lively  to  induce 
her  to  shed  one  tear  on  your  account. 

"  You  ask  me,  my  friend,  what  conduct  you  ought  to  pursue ; 
and  you  talk  of  revenge.  B.  has  never  injured  you ;  he  has  acted 
like  a  fool,  I  grant,  in  marrying  a  woman  whose  only  inducement 
to  the  match,  he  must  be  conscious,  was  his  wealth  ;  but  he  has  com 
mitted  no  crime  ;  at  least  he  was  unconscious  of  any.  That  the  fel 
low  should  wear  antlers,  is  no  great  matter  of  regret,  because  the  os 
frontis  is  certainly  substantial  enough  to  bear  their  weight.  Yet  I 
do  not  wish  them  to  be  planted  by  you,  for  your  sake.  I  will  allow 
that  this  lady  is  as  fair  as  she  is  fat — that  she  is  a  very  inviting  ob 
ject  ;  yet  why  should  you  prevent  her  leading  a  life  of  as  much  hap 
piness  as  she  is  susceptible  of — fruges  consumere,  &c.  Has  not  her 
conduct  in  relation  to  you  and  to  her  husband  been  such  as  renders 
her  unworthy  of  any  man  of  worth  ?  Has  he  not  conferred  on  you  a 


IDOL- WORSHIP.  173 

benefit,  by  preventing  the  possibility  of  an  alliance  with  a  woman  ca 
pable  of  carrying  on  a  correspondence  with  any  other  than  her  hus 
band ;  and  can^you,  who  enjoy  the  society  of  that  pattern  of  female 
virtue,  feel  for  this  woman  any  sentiment  but  contempt  ?  ... 
So  far  from  injuring  you,  B.  is  the  injured  person,  if  at  all.  His  im 
penetrable  stupidity  has  alone  shielded  him  from  sensations  not  the 
most  enviable,  I  imagine.  Do  not  suppose  from  my  style  that  I  am 
unfeeling,  or  have  too  low  an  estimate  of  the  sex ;  on  the  contrary,  I 
am  the  warmest  of  their  admirers.  But  silly  and  depraved  women, 
and  stupid,  unprincipled  men,  are  both  objects  of  my  pity  and  con 
tempt.  I  wish  you  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  what  is  valuable  in 
female  character — then  seek  out  a  proper  object  and  marry.  Intrigue 
will  blast  your  reputation,  and,  what  is  more  to  the  purpose,  your 
peace  of  mind  ;  it  will  be  a  stumbling-block  to  you  through  life.  An 
acquaintance  with  loose  women  has  incapacitated  you  from  forming  a 

proper  estimate  of  female  worth.  .  '**f '  T/ •- 

I  must  congratulate  you  on  your  escape,  and  on  your  resolution  to 
behold  no  more  the  fascinating  object  which  has  caused  you  so 
much  uneasiness.  I  shall  shortly  have  the  pleasure  of  embracing 
you. 

'•  P.  S.  My  servant  (Johnny  ?)  has  been  packing  up  some  effects, 
which  I  am  about  sending  to  Petersburg  by  water,  and  at  every 
three  words  I  have  had  a  query  to  solve.  This  will  account  for  my 
incoherence. 

"  P.  S.  (Characteristic,  two  postscripts.)  I  have  been  so  hurried, 
as  perhaps  to  betray  myself  into  an  inaccuracy  of  expression.  But 
let  me  suggest  two  ideas  to  you.  Has  not  your  conduct  been  such 
as  to  injure  a  woman  for  whom  you  have  felt  and  professed  a  re 
gard  ?  is  it  a  liberal  or  disinterested  passion  (passion  is  never  liberal 
or  disinterested),  which  risks  the  reputation  of  the  beloved  object1? 
Has  not  her  conduct  in  admitting  your  attentions  rendered  her  un 
worthy  of  any  man  but  her  present  possessor  ?  View  this  matter  in 
its  proper  light  and  you  will  never  think  more  of  her.  f  .  .  .  .  Suc 
cess  attend  your  study  of  law." 

About  the  middle  of  May,  Essex  was  dispatched  with  Jacobin 
and  other  horses,  to  meet  his  young  master  at  the  Boiling-green.  He 
took  along  with  him  the  following  letter  from  William  Thompson : 

"  What  are  my  emotions,  dearest  brother,  at  seeing  your  horse 


LIFE  OF  JOHN-  RANDOLPH. 

thus  far  on  his  way  to  return  you  among  us  !  How  eagerly  do  I 
await  the  appointed  day !  Ryland  (Randolph)  has  returned  (some 
unsuccessful  adventure),  and  another  of  the  children  of  misfortune 
will  seek  refuge  and  consolation  under  this  hospitable  roof.  He 
has  promised  me  by  letter  to  be  with  us  in  a  day  or  two, — what  plea 
sure  do  I  anticipate  in  the  society  of  our  incomparable  sister,  in 
yours,  in  Ryland's  !  I  wish  I  had  the  vanity  to  suppose  I  was 
worthy  of  it. 

"  We  have  been  visited  by  the  young  ladies  of  Liberty  Neck,  and 
by  its  mentor,  Major  Scott.  I  had  rather  have  his  wisdom  than  New 
ton's  or  Locke's ;  for  depend  on  it,  he  has  dipped  deep  in  the  science 
of  mind.  According  to  the  laws  of  gallantry,  I  should  have  escorted 
them  to  Amelia ;  but  I  am  not  fitted  for  society,  and  the  continued 
round  of  company  in  the  Neck  is  painful  instead  of  pleasing. 

"  Our  sister  is  now  asleep  ;  she  would  have  written  but  for  her 
being  busy  in  finishing  the  children's  clothes,  and  being  obliged  to 
write  to  Mrs.  Harrison.  When  I  came  in  last  evening.  I  found  her 
in  the  passage,  a  candle  on  the  chair,  sewing.  I  could  hardly  help 
exclaiming,  what  a  pattern  for  her  sex.  The  boys  are  well ;  they 
have  both  grown — the  Saint  particularly,  whose  activity  will  astonish 
you.  Every  body  is  cheerful — your  arrival  in  anticipation  is  the 
cause.  Farewell,  dearest  brother — hasten  to  join  us. 

"W.  THOMPSON. 

"  Take  care  how  you  ride  Jacobin,  and  if  not  for  your  own,  at 
least  for  our  sakes,  run  no  risks  by  putting  him  in  a  carriage — we 
all  dread  the  attempt." 

He  returned  safely,  to  the  joy  of  more  people  (ladies  too?)  than 
those  at  Bizarre.  This  delightful  society  was  now  complete  ;  books, 
high  discourse  on  philosophy,  morals,  government,  the  destiny  of 
man — intermingled  with  the  charming  conversation  and  the  music 
of  elegant  and  accomplished  women — exercise  on  the  high-mettled 
steed,  and  frequent  visits  and  dining  parties  at  neighbors'  houses, 
whose  warm  reception,  bountiful  hospitality,  and  unostentatious  re 
finement  of  manner  (universal  with  the  gentlemen  of  the  olden  time), 
made  the  guest  perfectly  at  home,  and  at  ease  in  heart  and  in  be 
havior.  Such  was  the  Old  Dominion,  half-a-century  ago,  such  is  she 
now  in  some  degree  ;  but,  alas  !  the  difference  ! 


IDOL-WORSHIP.  175 

But  poor  Thompson,  the  hapless  child  of  misfortune,  was  not 
long  permitted  to  enjoy  the  sweets  of  this  paradise.  Some  wicked 
and  envious  Mephistophiles  looked  in  with  his  jealous  eyes  on  the 
happy  beings  that  composed  it ;  and  sought  to  blast  it  with  his  ma 
licious  tongue.  It  was  rumored  that  Thompson  staid  at  Bizarre 
for  a  selfish  purpose ;  that,  besides  the  convenience  of  the  thing  in 
his  condition,  his  object  was  to  win  the  affection  of  its  fair  mistress. 
What  if  it  were  true  ?  But  this  base  world  will  allow  nothing  but 
a  base  motive  for  the  most  generous  action.  The  insinuation  was 
enough  for  the  high-minded  Thompson.  He  immediately  left  Bi 
zarre,  and  wrote  the  following  letter : — "  The  letter  which  I  have 
transmitted  by  the  same  opportunity  to  that  most  amiable  of  women 
our  sister,  communicates  intelligence  of  a  report,  the  effects  of  which 
on  my  mind  you  will  be  fully  aware  of,  from  a  former  conversation 
on  the  subject.  Would  you  suppose,  my  dearest  brother,  that  the 
world  would  have  dared  to  insinuate,  that  my  object  in  remaining  at 
Bizarre  is  to  solicit  the  affections  of  our  friend !  Time,  and  the  ap 
prehension  that  I  shall  be  intruded  on,  compel  me  to  conciseness. 
My  abode  will  be  Ryland's  until  I  receive  letters  from  you  both. 
View  the  subject  with  impartiality — enter  into  my  feelings,  for  you 
know  my  heart — tell  me  with  candor  whether  I  am  not  bound  to 
leave  the  abode  of  innocence  and  friendship  ?  Tell  me  whether  re 
fined  friendship  does  not  demand  on  my  part  a  sacrifice  of  every 
prospect  of  happiness,  to  the  amiable,  to  the  benevolent  and  virtuous 
woman  who  is  wronged  from  her  generous  sympathy  to  the  hapless." 

A  most  delicate  task  this  imposed  on  a  friend — particularly  one 
holding  the  relation  of  Mr.  Randolph  to  the  lady  in  question.  But 
see  how  nobly,  how  manfully  he  discharged  the  duty  :  "  For  the  first 
time  I  perceive  myself  embarrassed  how  to  comply  with  the  requisition 
of  friendship.  But  yesterday,  and  I  should  have  been  unable  to  com 
prehend  the  speculative  possibility  of  that  which  to-day  is  reduced  to 
practice.  If  I  decline  the  task  which  you  have  allotted  me,  it  is 
not  because  I  am  disposed  to  shrink  from  the  sacred  obligations 
which  I  owe  to  you.  My  silence  is  not  the  effect  of  unfeeling  indif 
ference,  of  timid  indecision,  or  cautious  reserve.  It  is  the  result  of 
the  firmest  conviction  that  it  is  not  for  me  to  advise  you  in  the  present 
crisis.  It  is  a  *task  to  which  I  am  indeed  unequal.  Consult  your 
own  heart,  it  is  alone  capable  of  advising  you.  The  truly  fraternal 


176  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

regard  which  you  feel  for  our  most  amiable  sister,  does  not  require 
to  be  admonished  of  the  respect  which  is  due  to  her  feelings.  You 
alone  are  a  competent  judge  of  that  conduct  which  is  best  calculated  not 
to  wound  her  delicacy ;  and  it  is  that  alone  which  you  are  capable  of 
pursuing.  Whatever  may  be  your  determination,  you  will  not  be 
the  less  dear  to  me.  That  spirit  of  impertinent  malice,  which  man 
kind  seem  determined  to  cherish  at  the  expense  of  all  that  should 
constitute  their  enjoyment,  may,  indeed,  intrude  upon  our  arrange 
ments  and  deprive  me  of  your  society  ;  but  it  can  never  rob  me  of  the 
pure  attachment  which  I  have  conceived  for  you,  and  which  can 
never  cease  to  animate  me.  I  hold  this  portion  of  good,  at  least,  in 
contempt  of  an  unfeeling  and  calumnious  world — invulnerable  to 
every  shaft,  it  derides  their  impotent  malice. 

"  Let  me  suggest  to  you  to  pursue  that  line  of  conduct  which  you 
shall  be  disposed  to  adopt,  as  if  it  were  the  result  of  your  previous 
determination.  Prosecute,  therefore,  your  intended  journey,  and  do 
not  permit  malicious  curiosity  to  enjoy  the  wretched  satisfaction  of 
supposing  that  IT  has  the  power  of  influencing  your  actions. 

"  I  have  perceived,  with  extreme  pleasure,  that  your  mind  has  for 
some  time  been  rapidly  regaining  its  pristine  energy.  Keep  it, 
therefore,  I  beseech  you,  my  friend,  in  constant  exercise.  Get  up 
some  object  of  pursuit.  Make  to  yourself  an  image,  and,  in  defiance 
of  the  decalogue,  worship  it.  Whether  it  be  excellence  in  medicine  or 
law,  or  political  eminence,  determine  not  to  relax  your  endeavors 
until  you  have  attained  it.  You  must  not  suffer  your  mind,  whose 
activity  must  be  employed,  to  prey  upon  itself.  The  greatest  bless 
ing  which  falls  to  the  lot  of  man  is  thus  converted  into  the  deadliest 
curse.  I  need  not  admonish  you  to  keep  up  the  intercourse  which 
subsists  between  us,  and  which  nothing  snail  compel  me  to  relin 
quish. 

"  I  trust  that  I  shall  hear  from  you  in  the  space  of  a  week  at 
farthest.  Meanwhile  rest  assured  of  the  undiminished  affection  of 
the  firmest  of  your  friends." 

Poor  Thompson  !  why  could  he  not  follow  the  advice  so  delicately 
given — pursue  the  line  of  conduct  he  had  previously  determined  on — 
which  was,  doubtless,  to  stay  at  Bizarre — prosecute  his  journey,  and 
then  come  back,  without  regard  to  the  malicious  surmises  of  a  wicked 
world  ?  He  did  not  sacrifice  his  happiness  to  that  amiable,  benevo- 


LOVE  MATTERS.  177 

lent  and  virtuous  woman,  as  he  supposed ;  she  did  not  need  it  or 
require  it — but  to  malicious  curiosity.  He  had  not  strength  of 
mind  to  resist  the  vague  impression  of  the  world's  censure;  and 
suffered  the  spirit  of  impertinent  malice  to  enjoy  the  wretched  satis 
faction  of  supposing  that  it  had  the  power  of  influencing  his  actions. 
He  never  came  back  to  Bizarre  as  a  home  again — soon  fell  into 
his  old  habits — wandered  over  Canada  a-foot,  seeking  rest  but 
finding  none — a  wandering  spirit  that  rapidly  glided  into  irregular 
courses ;  the  world,  erewhile  so  bright  and  smooth,  had  suddenly 
become  dark  and  slippery  to  him  ;  ne'er  again  could  he  find  rest  for 
the  sole  of  his  foot ; — turned  out  from  that  paradise,  a  world  of 
turbid  waters  was  all  his  wearied  eye  could  light  upon.  What  fur 
ther  befell  him  shall  be  made  known  to  the  reader  in  the  sequel. 


CHAPTEE    XXY. 

THE  COURSE  OF  TEUE  LOVE  NEVER  DID  RUN  SMOOTH. 

THE  reader  is  already  aware  that  John  Randolph  was  the  centre 
of  a  very  extensive  correspondence  with  some  of  the  first  young  men 
of  the  country — among  others.  Joseph  Bryan,  of  Georgia.  In  the 
month  of  January,  last  winter  (1800),  Bryan  informed  him  that  he 
was  about  to  embark  soon  for  England,  and  wished  his  friend  to  pro 
cure  certificates  of  citizenship  for  himself  and  companion  from  Mr. 
Jefferson ;  and  promised  in  his  next  to  give  the  reason  for  quitting 
his  native  country — which  accordingly  he  did  in  the  following  words  : 
"  I  have  in  that  time,  my  friend  (since  this  time  twelve  months),  been 
on  the  verge  of  becoming  a  member  of  the  fraternity  of  Benedicts,  as 
you  humorously  style  married  men.  In  short,  I  paid  my  addresses  to 
an  accomplished  young  woman,  of  both  family  and  fortune,  in  Caro 
lina — quarrelled  with  my  father  and  mother  because  I  would  not  re 
linquish  the  pursuit — followed  her  with  every  prospect  of  the  de 
sired  success  for  eighteen  months — went  to  her  abode  last  Christ 
mas,  with  the  comfortable  idea  of  marrying  her  on  the  commence 
ment  of  the  new  year — and  was  discarded  by  her  parents  because 
VOL.  i.  8* 


178  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

mine  would  not  consent  to  the  match.  There  were  one  or  two  other 

trifling  objections,  such  as — I  was  a ,  a  man  of  no  religion — 

a  G-eorgian  ;  and  would  take  their  child  where  they  might  never  see 
her  face  again,  &c.  All  this  you  may  think  apocryphal — 'tis  true, 
upon  my  word.  Yet  '  my  heart  does  not  bleed  at  every  pore  from 
the  bitterest  of  recollections  ;'  to  be  sure  I  was  in  a  hell  of  a  taking 
for  two  or  three  days.  But  I  found  that  keeping  myself  employed, 
made  it  wear  off  to  a  miracle.  So  much  for  my  love  affairs.  You 
may  perhaps  be  a  little  surprised  at  my  going  to  England  ;  'twas  a 
sudden  resolution,  I  must  confess ;  I'll  tell  you  how  it  happened. 
While  I  was  laboring  under  the  horrors  of  my  dismission,  I  swore 
to  my  little  grisette,  in  order  to  melt  her,  that  if  she  would  not  quit 
father  and  mother  and  run  away  with  me,  I  would  go  off  immedi 
ately  and  fight  the  Russians  !  She  would  not  do  that,  so  I  am 
obliged  by  a  point  of  honor  to  make  the  attempt,  at  least. 

"  If,  after  my  arrival  in  England,  I  can  conveniently  get  to 
France,  I  shall  go  there ;  if  not,  I  shall  spend  the  money  I  carry 
with  me,  and  come  home  again. 

"  I  don't  know  whether  'twill  be  proper  to  apply  to  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  for  the  certificate  I  wrote  to  you  for — my  reasons  were  these : 
I  knew  that  he  was  better  known  and  better  liked  in  France  than 
any  distinguished  person  in  our  country,  therefore,  a  certificate 
from  him  would  do  me  more  service  than  from  any  other ;  besides,  I 
don't  like  any  of  the  Adamites  well  enough  to  receive  a  favor  of 
that  kind  from  their  hands. 

"  I  expect  to  sail  from  Savannah  about  the  20th  instant  (Febru 
ary,  1800)  ;  as  soon  as  I  arrive  you  will  hear  from  me.  One  of  my 
principal  reasons  for  going  to  Europe,  is  to  improve  my  health, 
which  is  very  indifferent  at  this  time." 

So  then  it  was  your  own  pleasure  and  convenience  at  last,  and 
not  the  sting  of  disappointed  love,  that  drove  you  away  to  France  ! 
The  girls  are  very  much  deceived  when  they  flatter  themselves  that 
men  generally  will  do  rash  things  for  their  sweet  sakes ;  they  may 
be  in  a  hell  of  a  taking  for  a  time,  but  the  fever  soon  wears  off. 
Men  are  no  better  treated.  This  girl,  in  his  absence,  while  he  was 
fighting  for  liberty  under  the  banners  of  France,  did  the  very  thing 
she  refused  to  do  with  him — ran  away  and  got  married  against  the 
will  of  her  parents. 


LOVE  MATTERS. 

But  the  answer  to  the  first  letter,  and  in  anticipation  of  the  one 
above  :  "  Your  letter  of  the  7th  of  last  month  was  this  moment  put 
into  my  hands.  Need  I  say  that  it  distresses  me  beyond  measure  ? 
Ah,  my  friend,  it  is  then  too  true  !  My  suspicions  were  but  too  well 
grounded  !  The  eagle-eye  of  friendship  finds  no  difficulty  in  pierc 
ing  the  veil  which  shrouds  you  ;  which,  until  now,  I  did  not  dare  to 
lift.  You  have  related  nothing,  yet  I  know  every  thing.  This  omis 
sion,  for  which  you  promise  to  atone  in  another  letter,  is  but  too  well 
supplied  by  conjectures  which  cannot,  I  fear,  deceive  me. 

"  Bryan,  my  friend,  you  are  about  to  render  yo'cj-self,  me,  all 
who  are  interested  in  your  happiness,  wretched,  perhaps,  for  ever. 
These  are  more  numerous  than  you  are  at  present  willing  to  allow. 
At  one  stroke  you  are  about  to  sever  all  those  ties  which  bind  you 
to  the  soil  which  gave  you  birth,  to  the  tender  connections  of  your 
childhood,  to  the  most  constant  of  friends — relations  which  give  to 
existence  its  only  value.  Your  sickly  taste  loathes  that  domestic 
happiness  which  is  yet  in  store  for  you — perhaps  you  deny  that  it 
can  have,  for  yourself,  any  existence  ;  you  prefer  to  it,  trash  of  for 
eign  growth.  You  seek  in  vain,  my  friend,  to  fly  from  misery.  It 
will  accompany  you — it  will  rankle  in  that  heart  in  whose  cruel 
wounds  it  rejoices  to  dwell.  It  is  of  no  country,  but  your  self ^  and 
time  alone  can  soothe  its  rage. 

"  Among  the  dangers  you  are  about  to  encounter,  I  will  not  enu 
merate  those  of  a  personal  nature  ;  not  because  they  are  in  them 
selves  contemptible,  however  they  may  be  despised  by  yourself,  but 
because  in  comparison  to  the  gigantic  mischiefs  which  you  are  about 
to  court,  they  are  indeed  insignificant.  I  mean  in  respect  to  your 
self — to  your  friends  they  are  but  too  formidable.  Kecall  then,  I 
beseech  you,  your  rash  determination — pause,  at  least,  upon  the  rash 
step  which  you  meditate  !  It  is,  however,  the  privilege  of  friend 
ship  only  to  advise.  The  certificates  which  you  require,  I  will  en 
deavor  to  procure  time  enough  to  accompany  this  letter.  This  is 
Saturday,  and  after  the  hour  of  doing  business  at  the  offices  ;  and  to 
be  valid  they  must  issue  from  that  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  Be 
not  impatient,  they  shall  be  forwarded  by  Tuesday's  mail,  in  any 
event ;  letters  from  Jefferson  to  some  of  his  European  friends  shall 
follow  them." 

Thus  we  find  this  young  man,  not  yet  twenty-seven  years  of  age, 


130  L[FE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

the  grave  Mentor  to  his  young  friends.  They  confide  to  his  friend* 
ship,  constant  and  pure,  all  their  cares  and  troubles,  and  confidently 
expect  in  return  his  sympathy,  his  advice,  and  the  practical  les 
sons  of  a  sage  wisdom.  But  was  he  without  care?  Had  he  no 
troubles  of  his  own  to  perplex  his  bosom  ?  Had  this  young  Men 
tor  so  soon  fought  the  battle  of  life,  and  gained  the  victory?  Was 
his  heart  serene  and  lifted  above  the  storm  of  passion  that  raged 
around  him  ?  /,  too,  am  wretched  !  "  To  the  procuring  and  trans 
mitting,"  continues  he,  "  of  these  certificates  of  birth  and  citizenship. 
I  annex  a  condition  of  which  I  will  not  brook  the  refusal — a  compli 
ance  is  due  to  that  attachment  which  has  so  long  subsisted  between 
us ;  it  is  an  exertion  certainly  not  too  great  to  be  yielded  to  a  friend 
ship,  whose  constancy  has  been  rarely  equalled,  but  never  surpassed. 
Listen,  therefore  : 

"  I,  too,  am  wretched ;  misery  is  not  your  exclusive  charter.  I 
have  for  some  months  meditated  a  temporary  relinquishment  of  my 
country.  The  execution  of  this  scheme  has  no  connection  with 
yours.  The  motives  which  produced  it  originated  in  events  which 
happened  before  I  took  my  seat  in  Congress,  although  I  was  then 
ignorant  of  their  existence  ;  they  were,  indeed,  prior  to  my  election  to 
an  omce,  of  which  nothing  but  a  high  sense  of  the  obligations  of  pub 
lic  duty  has  prevented  the  resignation.  A  second  election  could  not, 
in  that  event,  have  been  practicable,  until  the  present  session  was 
somewhat  advanced.  I  determined,  therefore,  not  to  relinquish  my 
seat  until  its  expiration;  then  to  resign  it,  and  bid  adieu  to  my 
native  shores  for  a  few  years,  at  least.  In  this  determination  I  still 
remain.  If,  therefore,  you  refuse  to  rescind  your  hasty  resolution, 
I  desire  permission  to  be  the  companion  of  your  voyage — to  partake 
your  sorrows  and  to  share  with  you  my  own — to  be  the  friend  of  him 
who  is  to  accompany  you,  because  he  is  yours.  Yet,  believe  me,  Joe, 
and  it  is  unnecessary  to  declare  by  what  motives  I  am  influenced  to 
the  assertion,  that  I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  that  I  am  to  prosecute  my 
voyage  alone — to  be  informed  that  you  have  receded  from  a  project 
which  has  not,  like  my  own,  been  the  fruit  of  deliberate  resolve.  I 
had,  indeed,  hoped  that  the  relation  of  your  own  domestic  enjoyment 
would  have  beguiled  many  a  sad  hour  of  my  life.  But,  pardon  me, 
my  dear  fellow,  I  see  my  indiscretion.  It  shall  not  be  repeated. 

If,  then,  you  persist  in  carrying  into  execution  your  plan,  take  a 


LOVE  MATTERS.  181 

passage  with  your  friend  for  New-York,  or  the  Delaware,  it  is  open  ; 
meet  me  here  about  the  middle  of  March — we  rise  in  April — there  is 
a  resolution  laid  upon  our  table  to  adjourn  on  the  first  of  the  month ; 
it  will  certainly  be  carried ;  they  even  talk  of  substituting  '  March.' 
We  will  then  embark  together  for  any  part  of  the  other  continent 
that  you  may  prefer ;  I  am  indifferent  about  places.  But  if  I  go  alone, 
I  shall  take  shipping  for  some  English  port,  London  or  Liverpool.  I 
wish  I  could  join  you  in  Savannah  ;  but  it  would  be  extremely  incon 
venient.  I  fear  the  climate  ;  a  passage  would  be  more  UL  certain  too 
from  thence,  and  the  accommodations  perhaps  not  so  good.  Yet  I  will 
even  meet  you  there,  or  in  Charleston,  in  case  you  are  resolved  to 
leave  America,  if  I  can  have  your  company  on  no  other  terms. 
Write  immediately  and  solve  this  business.  I  repeat,  that  it  will  be 
very  inconvenient  to  take  my  passage  from  a  southern  port ;  it  will 
likewise  occasion  delay.  I  shall  have  a  voyage  to  make  thither,  and 
then  to  wait  the  sailing  of  a  vessel ;  whereas,  if  you  meet  me  here,  I 
can  fix  myself  for  any  ship  bound  to  Europe  about  the  time  of  the 
rising  of  Congress ;  and  in  the  great  ports  of  New-York,  Philadel 
phia,  or  Baltimore,  we  cannot  fail  to  procure  a  speedy  embarkation, 
and  agreeable  berths.  Again  I  entreat  you  to  write  to  me  immediately 
upon  the  receipt  of  this  :  in  expectation  of  the  answer,  I  shall  remain 
under  no  common  anxiety  until  its  arrival.  Meantime,  remember, 
my  friend,  that  there  is  one  person,  at  least,  and  he  an  unshaken 
friend,  who  is  not  insensible  to  your  worth.  Farewell,  dear  Joseph. 

'•  P.  S.  I  had  like  to  have  omitted  enjoining  you  to  preserve  invio 
lable  secrecy  with  respect  to  my  designs.  The  reason  I  will  detail 
to  you  at  meeting.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  they  are  not  such 
as  I  should  be  ashamed  to  avow ;  yet  I  do  not  wish  it  to  be  known 
that  I  am  about  to  leave  the  country  until  a  week  or  ten  days  before 
my  departure.  Adieu  !" 

Bryan  did  not  receive  this  letter  before  his  embarkation.  Had 
it  come  to  hand  in  time,  there  can  be  no  question  that  he  would  have 
gladly  accepted  the  offer  of  his  friend,  and  gone  to  Philadelphia  and 
awaited  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  that  they  might  have  the  plea 
sure  of  a  voyage  together. 

But  it  is  certain  Randolph  did  not  go  abroad  at  that  time.  Had 
his  friend  arrived  in  Philadelphia,  in  obedience  to  his  wishes,  he 
would  unquestionably  have  strained  a  point,  and,  at  all  hazards,  ful- 


182  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

filled  an  engagement  he  had  so  solemnly  made.  In  that  case,  tho 
events  of  history  would  have  been  changed.  But  he  did  not  go  ;  the 
reason  why  is  unknown  to  us.  It  may  have  been  pecuniary  embarrass 
ment.  He  was  paying  large  instalments  of  the  British  debt  about  that 
time  to  Mr.  Wickham.  In  1824,  writing  to  a  friend  from.  Paris,  he  says : 
"  Here,  then,  am  I,  where  I  ought  to  have  been  thirty  years  ago,  and 
where  I  would  have  been,  had  I  not  been  plundered  and  oppressed." 

But  he  did  not  escape  from  his  sorrows  at  that  time  by  flying 
across  the  sea.  He  staid  at  home  to  brood  over  them.  /,  too,  am 
wretched. 

"  My  character "  (says  he  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  about  this  time, 
August,  1800),  "like  many  other  sublunary  things,  hath  lately  un 
dergone  an  almost  total  revolution."  It  seems  that  he  had  some  spe 
cial  sorrow  that  weighed  upon  his  heart,  the  cause  of  which  originated 
before  his  election  in  April,  1799.  but  was  unknown  to  him  for  some 
months  afterwards.  That  it  was  of  the  same  nature  with  that  which 
drove  one  friend  across  the  Atlantic  and  the  other  to  Canada — that 
it  was  the  malady  of  love  which  brought  him  into  trouble,  and  that 
oppressed  his  soul,  cannot  be  questioned.  , 

Soon  after  he  took  his  seat  in  Congress  Thompson  wrote  to  him, 
detailing  the  circumstances  of  a  report  which  had  been  fabricated 
and  secretly  circulated  to  his  injury,  tracing  it  to  its  source,  and 
proving  it  to  be  an  idle  tale  without  foundation,  and  confined  to  the 
knowledge  of  a  few  only.  He  then  continues :  "  Repose  on  thy 
pillow  and  heed  not  the  shafts  that  are  thrown  against  you.  The 
world  has  not  injured  me,  and  it  has  not  despised  you.  Mrs. 
M.  assured  me  that  in  your  honor  she  placed  the  most  rfffplicit 

confidence.  When  you  communicate  with  M a,  as  probably 

you  have  already  done,  she  will  declare  herself  unaffected  by  this 
tale,  which  has  disturbed  your  peace.  I  have  spoken  with  candor, 
but  I  have  spoken  with  truth.  Demand  the  author,  and  if  he  be 
given  up,  you  will  find  it  a  child.  The  time  of  telling  it,  the  month 
of  August. 

"  Alas,  my  brother,  what  are  not  you  destined  to  suffer  !  What 
tremendous  trials  of  fortitude  have  you  not  undergone !  In  the 
enthusiasm  of  friendship  I  look  forward  to  your  happiness,  and 
each  day  brings  to  life  some  new  pang  which  is  unfeelingly  in 
flicted.  Let  not  this  affair  make  too  deep  an  impression  on  your 


LOVE  MATTERS. 


183 


mind— command  my  services  if  they  be  required ;  for  be  assured 
that  the  mind  which  personifies  irregularity  and  want  of  system 
in  the  aflairs  of  the  world,  is  nerved  to  act  with  dauntless  energy 
in  the  cause  of  my  brother.  Prudence,  caution,  all  the  requisites 
of  successful  friendship,  are  at  the  command  of  him,  who  in  the 
walk  of  life  is  eccentric  and  unsteady." 

About  the  time  of  the  correspondence  with  Bryan,  and  his 
determination  to  go  abroad,  Thompson  again  writes : — "  I  have 
mingled  with  society;  I  have  purposely  spoken  of  you  and  Miss 

W d  to  ascertain  precisely  the  public  opinion ;  and  I  can 

repeat  with  joy,  that  my  brother  has  not  been  wronged  by  the 
world.  As  to  the  idle  suggestions  of  babbling  men  and  women, 
shall  they  be  heaped  together  and  transformed  into  most  serious 
charges,  that  even  your  confidence  of  yourself  may  be  shaken  if 
possible,  and  thus  your  peace  of  mind  be  for  ever  blasted  ?  Enough 
on  this  subject.  I  have  violated  my  common  rule  of  conduct  by 
being  aggressor  on  the  topic." 

On  another  occasion  he  says : — "  In  our  lives,  my  brother,  we 

have  seen  two  fine  women  (Mrs.  Judith  Randolph  and  Miss  M a 

W — d) ;  never  extend  your  list ;  never  trust  your  eyes,  or  your  ears, 
for  they  stand  alone."  And  in  his  voluntary  banishment  from  the 
asylum  of  the  wretched  and  unfortunate,  when  he  deeply  felt  his 
bereavement  and  forlorn  condition,  he  thus  writes  :  "  M a,  the  ami 
able,  the  good  M a,  has  honored  me  with  a  short  letter ;  such 

tokens  of  esteem,  such  evidences  of  generous  pity,  for  a  man  cast  on 
the  wide  world  unfriended  and  unprotected,  create  a  gratitude  not 
to  be  expressed.  It  is  not  until  we  are  humiliated  by  misfortune  that 
we  feel  these  things,  for  in  the  height  of  worldly  prosperity  the  wish 
and  the  pursuit  go  hand  in  hand,  and  successive  gratifications  blunt 
the  sensibilities  of  our  nature.  Whilst  we  rejoice  in  a  mortality  as 
the  termination  of  lives  mutually  painful,  in  which  we  have  been 
called  on  to  exercise  a  fortitude  sufficient  to  overwhelm  minds  less 
noble  and  less  firm,  in  which  every  fair  prospect  has  been  blighted, 
every  brilliant  expectation  thwarted,  and  every  tender  emotion  hate 
fully  disappointed,  let  us  linger  out  a  remnant  which  cannot  be  long, 
mutually  cherishing  and  supporting  each  other  on  the  tedious  road. 
My  dear  friend,  let  us  not  leave  each  other  behind  ;  for,  alas  !  how 
sterile  and  how  barren  would  creation  then  be !  United,  we  are 


134  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

strong,  but  unsupported  we  could  not  stand  against  the  increasing 
pressure  of  misfortune.  Often  do  I  exclaim,  Would  that  you  and  I 
were  cast  on  some  desert  island,  there  to  live  out  the  remainder  of 
our  days  unpolluted  by  the  communication  with  man.  Separated 
from  each  other,  our  lips  are  sealed,  for  the  expression  of  sentiments 
which  exult  and  ennoble  humanity.  Even  in  the  support  of  virtue, 
the  cautious  language  of  vice  must  be  adopted  ;  even  in  the  defence 
of  truth  we  must  descend  to  the  artifice  of  error." 

Here,  reader,  we  let  drop  the  curtain.  Its  thick  folds  of  half  a 
century  are  impervious  to  the  light  of  mortal  eyes ;  ask  not  a  loojc 
beyond  the  mysterious  veil.  There  are  secrets  we  trust  not  to  a 
friend,  that  we  betray  not  to  ourselves,  and  which  none  but  the  im 
pious  curiosity  of  a  heartless  world  would  ever  dare  to  penetrate. 
Let  the  gross  impulses,  the  base  considerations  of  worldly  gain,  that 
constitute  the  ground  and  the  motive  of  most  human  associations, 
suffice  as  fit  subjects  for  your  cold  observation,  your  ridicule  and  con 
tempt  ;  but  hold  sacred,  or  look  with  awe,  on  that  deep  self-sacrificing 
passion,  which,  springing  from  the  soul  of  man,  is  all-embracing  in 
its  love,  fathomless,  infinite,  and  divine.  Enough  to  know,  that  in 
the  bosom  of  this  man  there  glowed  the  fires  of  such  a  love,  that  con 
tinued  to  burn  through  life,  and  were  only  extinguished  amid  the 
crumbling  ruins  of  the  altar  by  the  damp  dews  that  gathered  over 
them  in  the  dark  valley  and  the  shadow  of  death.  He  hath  said : 
"  One  I  loved  better  than  my  own  soul,  or  him  that  created  it." 
"  My  apathy  is  not  natural,  but  superinduced.  There  was  a  volcano 
under  my  ice,  but  it  is  burnt  out,  and  a  face  of  desolation  has  come 
on,  not  to  be  rectified  in  ages,  could  my  life  be  prolonged  to  a  patri 
archal  longevity.  The  necessity  of  loving  and  being  beloved  was 
never  felt  by  the  imaginary  beings  of  Rousseau  and  Byron's  cre 
ation  more  imperiously  than  by  myself.  My  heart  was  offered  up 
with  a  devotion  that  knew  no  reserve.  Long  an  object  of  proscrip 
tion  and  treachery,  T  have  at  last  (more  mortifying  to  the  pride  of 
man)  become  one  of  utter  indifference." 

To  you,  reader,  he  is  far  from  being  an  object  of  indifference,  and 
we  trust  that  before  the  end  of  these  volumes  he  will  be  drawn  to 
your  heart  by  the  cords  of  affection,  and  that  his  memory  will  ever 
hereafter  awaken  in  your  bosom  those  noblest  emotions  of  sympathy 
and  veneration. 


PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION.  185 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

PKESIDENTIAL    ELECTION,    1800-1 — MIDNIGHT  JUDGES. 

THE  reader  is  already  aware  of  the  intense  political  excitement 
raging  through  the  country  at  this  t:Tie.  The  civil  wars,  and  violent 
upturning  of  the  whole  social  system  in  Europe,  spread  the  contagion 
of  their  influence  across  the  Atlantic.  The  efforts  of  the  belligerent 
powers  to  draw  the  United  States  into  the  war,  and  the  anxiety  of 
leading  politicians  here  at  home  to  cast  on  their  political  adversaries 
the  odium  of  their  foreign  associations — Anglo-mania  and  Gallo-ma- 
nia — threw  into  the  contest  a  bitterness  and  violence  little  short  of 
actual  civil  commotion.  The  excited  political  campaign  in  the  spring 
of  1799,  was  but  a  prelude  to  the  more  violent  presidential  election 
that  was  to  take  place  in  the  autumn  of  1800.  The  fate  of  the  Re 
public  depended  on  that  election.  Had  the  federalists  succeeded, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  degradation  of  the  States  and  a  concen 
tration  of  all  power  in  a  splendid  central  empire,  would  have  been 
the  final  result.  Happily  for  the  cause  of  human  freedom,  the  elec 
tion  terminated  in  the  triumph  of  the  republican  cause. 

Thomas  Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr  being  the  candidates  of  the 
republicans,  got  seventy-three  votes,  John  Adams  sixty-five  votes, 
Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney  sixty-four  votes,  and  John  Jay  one 
vote.  But  a  difficulty  grew  out  of  this  result  that  could  not  have 
been  anticipated.  The  Constitution,  by  an  amendment  made  in  con 
sequence  of  this  difficulty,  now  requires  the  electors  to  designate  the 
person  they  vote  for  as  president,  and  the  person  they  vote  for  as 
vice-president ;  but  at  that  time  there  was  no  means  of  discrimina 
tion  ;  they  voted  for  two  persons,  and  the  one  getting  the  highest 
number  of  votes  was  declared  to  be  elected  president,  and  the  person 
getting  the  next  highest  number  of  votes  was  declared  to  be  elected 
vice-president.  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Burr  had  an  equal  number 
of  votes ;  neither  of  them  could  be  declared  as  being  elected  presi 
dent  ;  and  the  question  had  to  be  decided  by  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  voting  by  States.  So  soon  as  this  state  of  things  was 
known,  a  high  degree  of  uneasiness  and  alarm  was  excited  in  the 


186  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

minds  of  the  republicans,  lest  the  will  of  the  people  might  be  frus 
trated  by  intrigue  and  corruption.  Mr.  Jefferson  charged  the  fed 
eralists  with  a  design  of  preventing  an  election  altogether.  In  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Madison  he  says :  "  The  federalists  appear  determined 
to  prevent  an  election,  and  to  pass  a  bill  giving  the  government  to 
Mr.  Jay,  reappointed  chief  justice,  or  to  Marshall,  as  secretary  of 
state."  This  would  have  been  an  act  of  revolution ;  and  some  of  the 
more  violent  and  unprincipled  may  have  carried  their  designs  thus 
far ;  but  there  can  be  no  question  that  the  aim  of  the  party  was  to 
defeat  Mr.  Jefferson  and  to  elect  Burr.  This  was  carrying  their  op 
position  to  the  will  of  the  people  very  far.  Aaron  Burr  never  was 
thought  of  for  president ;  not  a  single  vote  was  cast  for  him  with 
that  view,  and  the  mere  accident  of  his  having  the  same  number  of 
votes  with  the  favorite  of  the  people,  brought  his  name  into  the 
House  of  Representatives;  and  yet  the  federalists  determined  to 
take  advantage  of  this  circumstance,  and  to  elevate  him  to  the  pres 
idency,  in  spite  of  the  popular  will.  They  justified  themselves  on 
the  ground  that  the  public  will  could  only  be  expressed  to  them 
through  the  constitutional  organs.  There  were  two  candidates,  they 
said,  for  the  office  of  president,  who  were  presented  to  the  House  of 
Representatives  with  equal  suffrages.  The  Constitution  gave  them 
the  right,  and  made  it  their  duty,  to  elect  that  one  of  the  two  whom 
they  thought  preferable.  Neither  of  them  was  the  man  of  their 
choice,  but  the  Constitution  confined  their  election  to  one  of  the  two, 
and  they  gave  their  vote  to  the  one  they  thought  the  greater  and 
the  better  man.  That  vote  they  repeated,  and  in  that  vote  they  de 
clared  their  determination  to  persist,  had  they  not  been  driven  from 
it  by  imperious  necessity.  The  prospect  ceased  of  the  vote  being 
effectual,  and  the  alternative  only  remained  of  taking  one  man  for 
president,  or  having  no  president  at  all.  They  chose,  as  they  thought^ 
the  lesser  evil.  The  republicans,  on  the  other  hand,  condemned 
their  course  as  factious  and  revolutionary ;  and,  had  they  succeeded 
in  electing  Burr  to  the  presidency,  in  all  probability  he  would  have 
been  driven  from  his  seat  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  From  all 
quarters  the  sound  came  up,  "  We  will  obey  no  other  president  but 
Mr.  Jefferson."  There  are  many  interesting  facts  and  important 
lessons  connected  with  this  election  that  come  within  the  province  of 
the  general  historian,  but  which  we  must  pass  over  as  inappropriate 


PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION.  187 

to  this  Biography.  The  part  that  John  Kandolph  took  in  these  af 
fairs  was  that  of  a  silent  voter  and  watchful  observer.  He  dispatched 
daily  bulletins  to  his  father-in-law,  giving  the  result  of  each  balloting 
as  it  took  place.  After  the  nineteenth  ballot  he  writes  :  "  No  elec 
tion  will,  in  my  opinion,  take  place."  But  on  the  17th  of  February 
he  writes :  "  On  the  thirty-sixth  ballot  there  appeared,  this  day,  ten 
States  for  Thomas  Jefferson ;  four  (New  England)  for  A.  Burr,  and 
two  blank  ballots  (Delaware  and  South  Carolina).  This  was  the 
second  time  that  we  balloted  to-day.  The  four  Burrites  of  Mary 
land  put  blanks  into  the  box  of  that  State  ;  the  vote  was,  therefore, 
unanimous.  Mr.  Morris,  of  Vermont,  left  his  seat,  and  the  result 
was,  therefore,  Jeffersonian.  I  need  not  add  that  Mr.  J.  was  de 
clared  duly  elected." 

Mr.  Randolph  attributed  this  result  to  the  patriotism  of  Alexan 
der  Hamilton.  That  gentleman  was  the  influential  and  popular 
leader  of  the  federal  party,  and  when  he  saw  the  extremity  to  which 
things  were  likely  to  be  driven  by  a  longer  persistence  in  their  course, 
he  advised  his  friends,  rather  than  to  produce  a  revolution  in  the 
government,  or  excite  popular  commotion,  to  give  way  and  suffer  Mr. 
Jefferson  to  be  elected.  Mr.  Randolph  often  expressed  the  opinion, 
in  after  life,  that  we  owed  the  safety  of  the  Republic  to  Hamilton, 
and  that  his  course  on  that  trying  occasion  had  elevated  him  very 
much  in  his  estimation. 

The  federalists  perpetrated  another  act  during  the  session  that 
excited  a  great  deal  of  indignation.  They  so  altered  and  enlarged 
the  judiciary  system  as  to  require  the  appointment  of  a  great  many 
new  judges.  It  was  urged  as  an  objection  to  the  bill,  that  it 
was  made  by  a  party  at  the  moment  when  they  were  sensible  that 
their  power  was  expiring  and  passing  into  other  hands.  They  re 
plied  it  was  enough  for  them  that  the  full  and  legitimate  power  ex 
isted.  The  remnant  left  them  (the  bill  passed  15th  February,  1801) 
was  plenary  and  efficient — and  it  was  their  duty  to  employ  it  accord 
ing  to  their  judgments  and  consciences  for  the  good  of  the  country. 
They  thought  the  bill  a  salutary  measure,  and  there  was  no  obligation 
upon  them  to  leave  it  as  a  work  for  their  successors.  They  had  no  hesi 
tation  in  avowing  that  they  had  no  confidence  in  the  persons  who  were 
to  follow  them,  and  were,  therefore,  the  more  anxious  to  accomplish 
a  work  which  they  believed  would  contribute  to  the  safety  and  sta- 


188  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

bility  of  the  government.  It  was  further  urged  as  an  objection  to 
the  bill,  that  it  was  merely  designed  to  create  sinecures  and  retreats 
for  broken-down  political  hacks — and  to  erect  battlements  and  for 
tresses  in  which  the  discomfited  leaders  of  federalism  might  rally 
their  scattered  forces  for  another  contest.  Mr.  Jefferson  said  of  this 
measure,  "  I  dread  this  above  all  the  measures  meditated,  because 
appointments  in  the  nature  of  freehold  render  it  difficult  to  undo 
what  is  done."  Yet  the  next  Congress  did  not  hesitate  to  undo  what 
was  done.  The  first  regular  speech  made  by  Mr.  Randolph  was  on 
the  proposition  to  repeal  this  law.  It  was  in  answer  to  Mr.  Bayard, 
the  leader  and  the  ablest  champion  on  the  opposite  side.  This  speech 
was  published,  many  years  ago,  in  a  collection  intended  to  be  speci 
mens  of  American  eloquence ;  and  notwithstanding  he  was  so 
young  a  man,  it  will  bear  a  comparison,  in  point  of  style  and  argu 
ment,  with  the  very  best  that  were  delivered  at  that  day.  In  justi 
fying  a  repeal  of  the  law,  and  thereby  displacing  judges,  who  by  the 
Constitution  hold  their  appointments  during  good  behavior,  Mr.  Ran 
dolph  argued — "  I  agree  that  the  Constitution  is  a  limited  grant  of 
power,  and  that  none  of  its  general  phrases  are  to  be  construed  into 
an  extension  of  that  grant.  I  am  free  to  declare,  that  if  the  extent 
of  this  bill  is  to  get  rid  of  the  judges,  it  is  a  perversion  of  your  power 
to  a  base  purpose  ;  it  is  an  unconstitutional  act.  If,  on  the  contrary, 
it  aims  not  at  the  displacing  one  set  of  men  from  whom  you  differ  in 
political  opinion,  with  a  view  to  introduce  others,  but  for  the  general 
good,  by  abolishing  useless  offices,  it  is  a  constitutional  act.  The 
quo  animo  determines  the  nature  of  this  act,  as  it  determines  the  in 
nocence  or  guilt  of  other  acts.  But  we  are  told  that  this  is  to  de 
clare  the  judiciary,  which  the  Constitution  has  attempted  to  fortify 
against  the  other  branches  of  government,  dependent  on  the  will  of 
the  legislature,  whose  discretion  alone  is  to  limit  their  encroachments. 
Whilst  I  contend  that  the  legislature  possesses  this  discretion,  I  am 
sensible  of  the  delicacy  with  which  it  is  to  be  used.  It  is  like  the 
power  of  impeachment,  or  the  declaring  of  war,  to  be  exercised  un 
der  a  high  responsibility.  But  the  power  is  denied — for,  say  they, 
its  exercise  will  enable  flagitious  men  to  overturn  the  judiciary,  in 
order  to  put  their  creatures  into  office,  and  to  wreak  their  vengeance 
on  those  who  have  become  obnoxious  by  their  merit ;  and  yet  the 
gentleman  expressly  says,  that  arguments  drawn  from  a  supposition 


PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION.  139 

of  extreme  political  depravity  prove  nothing  ;  that  every  government 
presupposes  a  certain  degree  of  honesty  in  its  rulers,  and  that  to 
argue  from  extreme  cases  is  totally  inadmissible.  Nevertheless,  the 
whole  of  his  argument  is  founded  on  the  supposition  of  a  total  want 
of  principle  in  the  legislature  and  executive." 

While  speaking  on  the  subject  of  the  judiciary  in  the  Virginia 
Convention,  nearly  thirty  years  after  this  transaction,  Mr.  Randolph 
thus  alludes  to  it :  "  At  the  very  commencement  of  my  public  life, 
or  nearly  so,  I  was  called  to  give  a  decision  on  the  construction  of 
that  clause  in  the  Federal  Constitution  which  relates  w>  the  tenure 
of  the  judicial  office ;  and  I  am  happy  to  find  that,  after  the  lapse  of 
thirty  years,  I  remain  precisely  of  the  same  opinion  that  I  then  held." 

If  a  law  should  be  passed  bonajide,  for  the  abolition  of  a  court 
which  was  a  nuisance,  and  ought  to  be  abolished,  he  considered  such 
a  law  as  no  infringement  of  judicial  independence  ;  but,  if  the  law 
was  enacted  mala  fide,  and  abolished  a  useful  court,  for  the  purpose 
of  getting  rid  of  the  judge  who  presided  in  it,  such  a  law  was  undoubt 
edly  a  violation  of  that  independence ;  just  as  the  killing  of  a  man 
might  be  murder  or  not,  according  to  the  intention,  the  quo  animo 
with  which  it  was  done.  He  said  that  it  could  not  be  necessary  to 
recount  to  the  gentleman  who  occupied  the  chair  (Mr.  Barbour)  the 
history  of  the  decision  which  was  given  in  Congress,  as  to  the  true 
intent  and  meaning  of  this  part  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  Par 
ties  had  never  run  higher  than  at  the  close  of  the  administration  of 
the  elder  Adams,  and  the  commencement  of  that  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 
After  efforts  the  most  unparalleled,  Mr.  Adams  was  ejected  from 
power,  and  the  downfall  of  the  party  attached  to  him  was  near  at 
hand.  After  this  decision  by  the  American  people,  when  they  were 
compelled  to  perceive  that  the  kingdom  was  passing  from  them,  in 
the  last  agonies  and  throes  of  dissolution,  they  cast  about  them  to 
make  some  provision  for  the  broken-down  hacks  of  the  party  ;  and  at 
midnight,  and  after  midnight,  on  the  last  day  of  Mr.  Adams's  ad 
ministration,  a  batch  of  judges  was  created,  and  bequeathed  as  a 
legacy  to  those  who  followed. 

The  succeeding  party  on  coming  into  power,  found  that  they  must 
consult  the  construction  of  the  Constitution,  to  prevent  the  recur 
rence  of  such  a  practice ;  because,  if  the  construction  should  be  al 
lowed  under  which  this  had  been  done,  it  would  enable  every  politi- 


190  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

cal  party,  having  three  months  notice  of  their  departure  from  the 
helm  of  affairs,  to  provide  for  themselves  and  their  adherents,  by  get 
ting  up  a  judiciary  system,  which  would  be  irrevocable ;  a  city  of  re 
fuge  where  they  would  be  safe  from  all  approach  of  danger.  To 
avoid  such  a  result  it  became  necessary  to  abolish  the  system,  which 
was  then  believed  to  be  injurious,  and  which  experience  has  proved 
to  be  unnecessary.  Mr.  Randolph  said,  that  he  was  one  of  those 
who  voted  for  the  decision  which  declared  that  the  court  might  bo 
abolished  bona  fide,  and  that  the  office  of  the  judge  should  cease 
with  it. 

Shortly  after  these  midnight  appointments,  Mr;  Adams  left  the 
city,  under  the  cover  of  darkness,  that  he  might  not  witness,  the  next 
day,  the  inauguration  of  his  successful  rival.  Many  of  his  friends 
were  deeply  mortified  at  this  undignified  and  unmanly  retreat. 

On  reaching  an  inn  beyond  Baltimore,  'tis  said  (we  speak  on  the 
authority  of  Mr.  Randolph)  that  Mr.  Adams,  walking  up  to  a  por 
trait  of  Washington,  and  placing  his  finger  on  his  lips,  exclaimed,  "  If 
I  had  kept  my  lips  as  close  as  that  man,  I  should  now  be  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States." 

It  is  very  true,  Mr.  Adams  had  no  judgment,  no  discretion.  He 
possessed  a  brilliant  imagination,  a  bold  and  an  ardent  temper, 
that  made  him  the  impassioned  and  powerful  orator  of  the  Revolu 
tion  ;  but  he  could  lay  claim  to  few  of  those  faculties  that  fit  a  man 
to  conduct  wisely  and  prudently  the  affairs  of  a  great  republic. 


CHAPTEE    XXVII. 

THE  SEVENTH  AND  EIGHTH  CONGRESSES. — CHAIRMAN  OF  THE 
COMMITTEE  OF  WAYS  AND  MEANS.  —  THE  WORKING  PE 
RIOD. — THE  YAZOO  BUSINESS. 

AT  the  opening  of  the  first  Congress  under  the  new  administration, 
in  December,  1801,  Mr.  Randolph  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  his 
friend.  Nathaniel  Macon,  elected  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives.  Mr.  Randolph  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Committee  of 


SEVENTH  AND  EIGHTH  CONGRESSES.  191 

Ways  and  Means.  Some  notion  may  be  formed  of  the  duties  of  this 
committee  from  the  resolution  calling  for  its  appointment. 

"  Resolved,  That  a  Standing  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  be  ap 
pointed,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  take  into  consideration  all  such  reports 
of  the  Treasury  Department,  and  all  such  propositions  relative  to  the 
revenue,  as  may  be  referred  to  them  by  the  House  ;  to  inquire  into 
the  state  of  the  public  debt,  of  the  revenue,  and  of  the  expenditures ; 
and  to  report,  from  time  to  time,  their  opinion  thereon." 

The  duties  of  this  committee,  as  we  may  perceive,  embraced  a 
wide  field  of  inquiry.  The  new  administration  had  pledged  itself  to 
the  people  to  place  the  "  ship  of  state  on  its  republican  tack,"  and  to 
furnish  a  model  of  a  simple  and  economical  government.  All  unne 
cessary  offices  and  useless  expenditures  were  to  be  abolished,  the 
army  and  navy  reduced,  and  the  national  debt  was  to  be  redeemed.  All 
the  necessary  inquiries,  investigations,  reports,  and  bills,  touching 
these  important  subjects,  had  to  emanate  from  the  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means.  The  chairman  of  that  committee  had  to  be 
brought  in  daily  official  communication  with  the  executive  depart 
ments  ;  his  relation  towards  them  was  of  a  most  confidential  charac 
ter  5  and  he  was  regarded  as  the  leader  of  the  friends  of  the  admin 
istration  in  the  representative  department. 

Mr.  Randolph  and  the  President  were  intimate  friends;  they 
were  on  terms  of  unreserved  intercourse — personally  and  politically 
they  cordially  agreed,  and  heartily  co-operated  in  accomplishing  the 
great  ends  of  the  administration.  In  accordance  with  the  recommen 
dation  of  the  President,  Mr.  Randolph  introduced  a  proposition, 
"  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  inquire  whether  any,  and  what 
alterations  can  be  made  in  the  judiciary  department  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  provide  for  securing  the  impartial  selection  of  juries 
in  the  courts  of  the  United  States ;"  and  also  another  resolution,  to 
inquire  what  reductions  could  be  made  in  the  civil  government  of  the 
United  States.  They  were  referred  to  a  select  committee,  of  which 
he  was  chairman.  On  the  4th  of  February,  he  reported  a  bill  to  re 
peal  the  laws  of  the  last  session  with  respect  to  the  judiciary,  and 
after  undergoing  considerable  discussion  in  committee  of  the  whole, 
it  was  finally  passed  by  the  House  on  the  3d  March,  1802,  by  a  large 
majority.  Mr.  Randolph's  speech  on  this  subject  we  have  already 
alluded  to  in  the  preceding  chapter.  On  the  20th  January  he  in- 


192  L!FE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

trodueed  a  resolution,  directing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  lay 
before  the  House  a  list  of  the  exports  to  the  Mediterranean,  distin 
guishing  those  of  the  growth  of  the  United  States.  He  also  took 
part  in  the  debate  on  the  apportionment  under  the  census  of  1800. 
Mr.  Randolph  took  a  lively  interest  in  this  subject,  and  long  foresaw 
the  effect  each  succeeding  census  would  have  on  the  political  power 
of  his  native  State.  He  introduced  on  the  9th  of  June,  a  resolution 
to  reduce  the  military  establishment.  Having  been  appointed  chair 
man  of  the  select  committee  to  see  what  could  be  done  to  expedite 
the  public  printing,  he  reported  a  resolution  to  appoint  a  public 
printer ;  and  to  his  exertions  may  be  justly  attributed  an  economical 
improvement  in  the  printing  of  the  House. 

But  one  of  the  most  important  subjects  to  which  Mr.  Randolph 
turned  his  attention  was  the  public  debt.  On  the  9th  of  April,  1802, 
he  reported  a  bill  making  provision  for  the  redemption  of  the  public 
debt  of  the  United  States.  It  provided  that  so  much  of  the  duties 
on  merchandise  and  tonnage,  &c.,  as  will  amount  to  an  annual  sum 
of  seven  millions  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  be  yearly  appro 
priated  as  a  sinking  fund ;  and  said  sums  were  declared  to  be  vested 
in  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  to  be  applied  by  them  to  the 
payment  of  interest  and  charges,  and  to  the  redemption  of  the  prin 
cipal  of  the  public  debt.  After  this  appropriation  he  kept  a  watch 
ful  eye  on  its  faithful  disbursement.  The  subject  was  frequently 
before  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  and  the  conduct  and 
management  of  the  commissioners  minutely  criticised. 

The  chief  subject  that  attracted  the  attention  of  Congress  during 
the  next  session,  which  began  in  December,  1802,  was  the  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi  and  the  cession  of  Louisiana  to  France.  In  the 
preceding  October,  the  Governor  of  New  Orleans,  Don  Morales,  had 
issued  a  proclamation,  excluding  that  port  as  a  depot  for  our  com 
merce,  a  privilege  we  had  a  right  to  enjoy  under  our  treaty  with 
Spain.  This  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  Spanish  authorities  had 
created  great  excitement  in  the  western  country.  In  addition  to  this, 
it  was  rumored  abroad  that  Louisiana  had  been  transferred  to  the 
dominion  of  the  all-powerful  and  all-grasping  French  Republic,  now 
under  the  sway  of  the  ambitious  Bonaparte.  These  important  facts, 
together  with  the  private  information  he  had  obtained  on  the  subject, 
were  deemed  by  the  President  as  being  worthy  of  a  secret  and  confv 


SEVENTH  AND  EIGHTH  CONGRESSES.  193 

dential  communication  to  Congress,  which  was  made  the  22d  of  Decem 
ber.  Additional  information  was  communicated  on  the  31st,  and  on 
the  5th  of  January  Mr.  Griswold  moved  that  the  President  be  re 
quested  to  lay  before  the  House  copies  of  such  official  documents  as 
have  been  received  by  the  Government,  announcing  the  cession  of 
Louisiana  to  France,  together  with  a  report  explaining  the  stipula 
tions,  circumstances,  and  conditions,  under  which  that  province  is  to 
be  delivered  up.  Those  private  messages,  which  called  forth  this 
resolution,  had,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Randolph,  been  referred  to  a 
committee,  and  had  been  under  consideration  in  the  House  with 
closed  doors.  He  now  moved  to  refer  Mr.  Griswold's  resolution  to  a 
Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union.  The  motion, 
after  some  discussion,  was  carried,  and  the  House  went  into  commit 
tee.  Mr.  Randolph  observed  that  he  had  in  his  hand  certain  reso 
lutions  connected  with  the  message,  relative  to  the  late  proceedings 
at  New  Orleans,  the  discussion  of  which  had  been  ordered  to  be  con 
ducted  with  closed  doors.  He  asked  the  decision  of  the  question, 
whether,  previously  to  offering  his  resolutions,  the  doors  ought  not  to 
be  closed.  Much  opposition  was  made  to  this  motion.  Mr.  Gris 
wold's  resolution,  it  was  said,  was  one  for  information,  and  ought  to 
be  discussed  with  open  doors.  Mr.  Randolph  observed,  that  he  had 
already  more  than  once  stated  his  objections  to  discuss  this  subject 
in  public.  He  had  observations,  which,  he  had  said,  must  be 
made  in  secret.  "  The  gentleman  from  Connecticut  says  he  is  willing 
the  resolution  should  be  fully  discussed,  and  therefore  concludes  that 
it  must  not  be  referred  to  a  select  committee,  as  he  is  pleased  to  term 
it,  where  alone,  as  we  contend,  and  have  informed  him,  the  discussion 
can  take  place.  Sir,  this  may  be  logic,  but  it  is  new  to  me.  A  mes 
sage  from  the  President  relative  to  New  Orleans  has  been  referred 
to  a  certain  committee,  and  we  propose  to  refer  the  resolution  to  the 
same  committee.  Gentlemen  exclaim  that  this  is  denying  them  in 
formation.  Does  it  follow  of  necessity  that  we  deny  the  information 
because  we  choose  to  consider  the  subject  with  closed  doors  ?  Cannot 
the  resolution  be  as  fully  discussed  in  private  as  in  public  ?  Do  all 
the  reasoning  faculties  of  the  House  cease  to  exist  the  moment  the 
doors  are  closed  ?  Cannot  the  eloquence  of  the  gentleman  be  exerted 
unless  when  addressed  to  the  ladies  who  do  us  the  honor  of  attend 
ing  in  this  hall?"  Mr.  Randolph's  motion  prevailed.  The  House 
VOL.  i.  9 


194  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

was  cleared,  and  lie  offered,  with  closed  doors,  the  following  resolu 
tion,  to  which  he  had  alluded  in  debate  ;  "  Resolved — That  this  House 
receive,  with  great  sensibility,  the  information  of  a  disposition  in  cer 
tain  officers  of  the  Spanish  Government  at  New  Orleans  to  obstruct 
the  navigation  of  the  river  Mississippi,  as  secured  to  the  United  States 
by  the  most  solemn  stipulations.  That,  adhering  to  the  humane  and 
wise  policy  which  ought  ever  to  characterize  a  free  people,  and  by 
which  the  United  States  have  always  professed  to  be  governed,  wil 
ling,  at  the  same  time,  to  ascribe  this  breach  of  compact  to  the  unau 
thorized  misconduct  of  certain  individuals,  rather  than  to  a  want  of 
good  faith  on  the  part  of  his  Catholic  Majesty,  and  relying  with  per 
fect  confidence  on  the  vigilance  and  wisdom  of  the  Executive,  they 
will  wait  the  issue  of  such  measures  as  that  department  of  the  Govern 
ment  shall  have  pursued  for  asserting  the  rights  and  vindicating  the 
injuries  of  the  United  States  ;  holding  it  to  be  their  duty,  at  the  same 
time,  to  express  their  unalterable  determination  to  maintain  the  boun 
daries  and  the  rights  of  navigation  and  commerce  through  the  river 
Mississippi,  as  established  by  existing  treaties." 

One  of  the  measures  of  the  Executive  to  which  Mr.  Randolph 
alludes,  was  a  pending  negotiation  for  the  purchase  of  Louisiana. 
Mr.  Livingston,  our  minister  at  Paris,  had  received  ample  instruc 
tions  on  this  subject,  and,  about  this  time,  Mr.  Monroe  had  been 
dispatched  as  envoy  extraordinary,  to  aid  him  in  the  negotiation. 
The  proposition  happened  to  have  been  made  at  a  most  fortunate 
juncture  of  affairs,  when  Bonaparte  was  preparing  for  a  war  with 
England.  He  wished  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  the  United  States — 
feared  that  the  British  navy  might  wrest  his  newly  acquired  province 
from  him  during  the  coming  war,  and  was  much  in  need  of  money- 
These  considerations  induced  him  to  listen  favorably  to  the  proposi 
tion  of  the  United  States  to  purchase  Louisiana  for  a  large  sum  of 
money. 

Mr.  Livingston  conducted  the  business  with  great  ability,  and 
when  Mr.  Monroe  arrived,  he  had  but  little  more  to  do  than  sign  the 
articles  of  the  treaty.  Bonaparte,  in  a  very  short  time,  repented  of 
this  measure.  He  saw  the  great  blunder  he  had  committed  in  part 
ing  with  a  country  so  large,  so  rich,  and  so  important,  in  a  political 
and  commercial  point  of  view ;  and  would  have  availed  himself  of 
any  pretext  to  break  the  treaty,  and  take  back  the  province.  The 


SEVENTH  AND  EIGHTH  CONGRESSES. 

President  was  apprised  of  all  these  facts,  and  warned  by  our  min 
isters,  that  if  there  should  be  the  slightest  delay  in  the  ratification, 
and  in  the  provisions  to  be  made  by  Congress  to  pay  the  instal 
ments  of  the  purchase,  we  should  lose  it  altogether.  The  treaty  was 
signed  at  Paris,  the  30th  of  April,  1803.  So  soon  as  it  reached  the 
United  States,  the  President,  by  proclamation,  called  Congress 
on  the  first  Monday  in  October,  to  take  measures  to  carry  it  into 
effect. 

In  all  his  efforts  to  bring  this  business  to  a  successful  issue,  the 
President  received  the  hearty  co-operation  of  ;he  leader  of  the  House 
of  Representatives.  Mr.  Randolph's  quick  and  comprehensive  mind 
saw,  at  a  glance,  the  importance  of  the  crisis,  and,  as  chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  his  aid  was  most  prompt  and  efficient 
in  getting  over  the  difficulty.  By  the  10th  of  November,  a  bill  had 
been  passed,  and  approved  by  the  President,  creating  certificates  of 
stock  in  favor  of  the  French  Republic,  for  the  sum  of  eleven  mil 
lions  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  bearing  an  interest  of 
six  per  centum  per  annum,  from  the  time  when  possession  of  Louisiana 
shall  have  been  obtained,  in  conformity  with  the  treaty  of  the  thir 
tieth  day  of  April,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  three,  between 
the  United  States  of  America  and  the  French  Republic.  Possession 
was  given  the  20th  of  December  following ;  and  all  the  measures 
adopted  by  Congress  in  regard  to  the  newly  acquired  territory,  were 
either  matured  by  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  of  which  Mr. 
Randolph  was  chairman,  or  by  some  select  committee,  appointed  at 
his  instance.  Few  men  did  more  than  he  to  secure  the  purchase  of 
Louisiana,  when  once  made,  and  then  to  provide  for  it  a  good  and 
efficient  government.  Next  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 
the  adoption  of  the  present  Constitution,  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana 
has  had  more  influence  than  any  other  thing  on  the  destiny  of  the 
United  States. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  a  strict  constructionist,  and  held  that  no  pow 
ers  should  be  exercised  but  those  specifically  granted.  The  Consti 
tution  contemplates  no  territory  beyond  that  in  possession  of  the  Con 
federacy  or  of  the  States  at  the  time  of  its  adoption.  The  purchase 
of  foreign  territory  was  a  thing  not  dreamed  of  by  its  framers,  nor  is 
there  any  clause  authorizing  such  a  measure.  Mr.  Jefferson  was 
fully  aware  of  this  ;  but  he  considered  that  there  was  such  an  imperi- 


195  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

ous  necessity  in  this  case,  requiring  such  immediate  action — now  or 
never — that  he  would  be  justified  in  making  the  acquisition,  and  pro 
curing  a  sanction  of  it  afterwards,  by  an  amendment  of  the  Constitu 
tion.  "  The  Constitution  has  made  no  provision  for  our  holding 
foreign  territory,"  says  he, "  still  less  for  incorporating  foreign  nations 
into  our  Union.  The  Executive,  in  seizing  the  fugitive  occurrence, 
which  so  much  advances  the  good  of  their  country,  have  done  an  act  be 
yond  the  Constitution.  The  legislature,  in  casting  behind  them  meta 
physical  subtleties,  and  risking  themselves  like  faithful  servants,  must 
ratify  and  pay  for  it,  and  throw  themselves  on  their  country,  for  do 
ing  for  them,  unauthorized,  what  we  know  they  would  have  done  for 
themselves,  had  they  been  in  a  situation  to  do  it.  But  we  shall  not 
be  disavowed  by  the  nation,  and  their  act  of  indemnity  will  con 
firm  and  not  weaken  the  Constitution,  by  more  strongly  marking  out 
its  lines." 

But  unfortunately  this  act  of  indemnity  was  never  performed — 
the  amendment  of  the  Constitution  was  never  made.  What  was  an 
exception,  justified  only  by  necessity,  has  now  become  a  precedent ; 
and  nearly  all  the  difficulties  that  threaten  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  growing  out  of  the  slavery  question,  and  the  acquisition  of 
new  territory,  have  been  occasioned  by  that  fatal  omission.  Had  the 
Constitution  been  amended,  as  contemplated,  by  first  sanctioning 
that  which  had  been  admitted  as  a  violation  of  it,  and  then  by 
defining  minutely  the  powers  to  be  exercised  in  future  by  Congress, 
the  present  embarrassments  of  the  country  could  never  have  hap 
pened.  We  see  also  in  this  transaction  the  insufficiency  of  a  paper 
constitution  to  resist  the  current  of  the  popular  will — unless  there  be 
power  to  restrain  power,  nothing  else  can  withstand  it — the  plea  of 
necessity  has  been  urged  by  Congress  for  nearly  every  unconstitutional 
act  they  have  perpetrated. 

The  next  subject  of  importance  to  which  Mr.  Randolph's  atten 
tion  was  turned,  was  the  impeachment  and  trial  of  Judge  Chase. 
On  Thursday  the  5th  of  January,  1804,  he  moved  that  a  committee 
be  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  official  conduct  of  Samuel  Chase, 
one  of  the  associate  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  and  report  their  opinion  whether  the  said  Samuel  Chase  had 
so  acted  in  his  judicial  capacity  as  to  require  the  interposition  of  the 
constitutional  power  of  the  House.  The  committee  reported  seven 


SEVENTH  AND  EIGHTH  CONGRESSES.  197 

articles  of  impeachment  drafted  by  their  chairman,  and  detailing 
charges  of  misconduct  on  the  part  of  the  judge  in  the  trial  of  John 
Fries,  for  high  treason,  in  levying  war  against  the  United  States 
during  the  Whisky  Insurrection  in  Pennsylvania ;  and  also  in  the 
trial  of  Thomas  Cooper  and  James  Callender,  for  sedition  or  libel 
against  the  President. 

This  trial  was  a  very  important  one,  as  Judge  Chase  had  been 
one  of  those  high-handed  federalists,  who  not  only  approved  the 
Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  but  had  transcended  all  bounds  in  his 
eagerness  to  enforce  them. 

For  want  of  time  the  subject  was  postponed  to  the  next  session. 
On  the  30th  November,  1804,  the  articles  of  impeachment  were 
again  reported,  and  Mr.  Randolph  was  appointed  chief  manager  to 
conduct  the  trial  before  the  Senate.  The  proceedings  were  very 
tedious — many  witnesses  were  examined — and  many  arguments 
during  the  progress  of  the  examination  were  delivered  on  both  sides. 
Mr.  Randolph  conducted  the  cause  on  the  part  of  the  prosecution 
with  the  skill  of  a  practised  attorney.  He  opened  the  case  on  the 
part  of  the  House,  the  14th  February,  1805,  in  a  speech  of  one  hour 
and  a  half.  Though  it  is  out  of  the  line  of  his  usual  forensic  efforts, 
it  will  well  repay  a  perusal.  As  two-thirds  of  the  senators  present 
were  required  to  concur  in  sustaining  an  impeachment,  and  as  only 
a  majority  concurred  in  sustaining  some  of  the  articles,  Judge  Chase 
was  acquitted. 

There  was  scarcely  any  subject  of  importance  before  Congress  at 
this  period  that  did  not  attract  the  personal  attention  of  Mr.  Ran 
dolph.  Not  content  with  the  laborious  duties  of  the  Finance  Commit 
tee,  furnishing  work  enough  for  any  ordinary  mind,  we  find  him  on 
innumerable  select  committees,  embracing  the  widest  range  of  investi 
gation  on  all  subjects  of  legislation.  Nothing  escaped  his  vigilant 
eye — nothing  too  laborious  for  him  to  undertake.  These  four 
years,  from  the  opening  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration  to  the  4th 
of  March,  1805,  the  close  of  the  eighth  Congress,  were  indeed  his 
working  days.  He  was  abstemious  in  his  habits,  unceasing  in  his 
labors,  unremitting  in  his  attention  to  public  duties. 

No  man  had  ever  risen  so  rapidly,  or  attained  a  higher  degree  of 
eminence  and  influence ;  his  career  was  brilliant  and  successful. 
The  President  in  the  executive  department,  and  he  as  the  leader  of 


198  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

the  legislative,  had  done  all  that  was  expected  of  them  in  the  great 
work  of  reforming  the  government,  and  bringing  it  back  to  its  original 
simplicity.  Many  years  afterwards  he  recurred  to  this  period  with 
just  pride.  "Sir,  (said  he  in  a  speech  on  retrenchment,  in  1828,)  I 
have  never  seen  but  one  administration,  which  seriously,  and  in  good 
faith,  was  disposed  to  give  up  its  patronage,  and  was  willing  to  go 
farther  than  Congress,  or  even  the  people  themselves,  so  far  as  Con 
gress  represents  their  feelings,  desired — and  that  was  the  first 
administration  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  He,  sir,  was  the  only  man  I 
ever  knew  or  heard  of,  who  really,  truly,  and  honestly,  not  only  said 
"  nolo  episcopari,"  but  actually  refused  the  mitre.  It  was  a  part  of 
my  duty,  arid  one  of  the  most  pleasant  parts  of  public  duty  that  I 
ever  performed,  under  his  recommendation — not  because  he  recom 
mended  it,  thank  Grod  ! — to  move,  in  this  House,  to  relieve  the  public 
at  once  from  the  whole  burden  of  that  system  of  internal  taxation, 
the  practical  effect  of  which  was,  whatever  might  have  been  its 
object,  to  produce  patronage  rather  than  revenue.  He,  too,  had 
really  at  heart,  and  showed  it  by  his  conduct,  the  reduction  of  the 
national  debt ;  and  that  in  the  only  mode  by  which  it  can  ever  be 
reduced,  by  lessening  the  expenses  of  the  Government  till  they  are 

below  its  receipts." "  Never  was  there  an  administration,"  says 

he,  "  more  brilliant  than  that  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  up  to  this  period. 
We  were  indeed  in  the  full  tide  of  successful  experiment !  Taxes 
repealed ;  the  public  debt  amply  provided  for,  both  principal  and 
interest;  sinecures  abolished  ;  Louisiana  acquired;  public  confidence 
unbounded." 

None  deserved  more  than  himself  a  large  portion  of  that  un 
bounded  public  confidence,  which  attached  to  the  administration — 
and  he  was,  indeed,  looked  to  from  all  quarters  as  the  fearless  cham 
pion  of  truth  and  justice.  But  no  man  ever  drank  of  the  cup  of 
life  unmingled  with  bitter  waters.  The  mean  and  the  envious  had 
grown  jealous  of  his  greatness,  and  were  seeking  by  low  and  cunning 
arts  to  destroy  his  influence,  and  to  withdraw  from  him  the  confi 
dence  of  the  people.  It  was  a  trait  of  his  character  never  to  aban 
don  principle  for  policy ;  never  to  relinquish  a  favorite  measure  how 
ever  hopeless  of  success ;  never  to  quit  his  books  and  his  study  for 
idle  conversation  ;  never  to  permit  a  vulgar  familiarity  for  the  sake 
of  gaining  popularity  with  those  who  were  to  vote  on  his  measures. 


SEVENTH  AND  EIGHTH  CONGRESSES.  199 

Hence,  they  began  to  speak  of  him  as  a  person  possessing  proud  and 
haughty  manners  ;  and  as  a  leader,  having  failed  to  harmonize  the 
republican  members  of  Congress.  "  Great  God  !"  exclaims  Thomp 
son,  "  to  think  that  measures  of  the  highest  import  to  our  country 
are  opposed,  because  their  advocate  does  not  make  a  bow  in  the  right 
way !  This  is  the  fact :  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  asking,  what 
your  manner  has  to  do  with  your  public  character — whether  there 
are  laws  penal  against  study,  reading,  and  devotion  to  the  welfare  of 
your  country."  But  the  cause  of  offence  lay  not  in  his  reserved  and 
retiring  deportment — his  proud  and  haughty  manners — it  was  found 
in  that  keen  sense  of  injustice  and  wrong  that  made  him  detect  base 
ness  and  corruption  in  their  most  secret  hiding-places,  and  in  that 
manly  independent  spirit  that  made  him  fearless  in  dragging  out 
the  perpetrators  into  the  light  of  day,  and  drawing  on  them  the 
scorn  and  indignation  of  the  world.  Mr.  Randolph  was  one  that 
never  could  tolerate  corruption  in  public  men.  There  were  many 
of  that  class — or  many  that  he  suspected  to  be  of  that  class — con 
nected  with  the  administration.  He  was  unsparing  in  his  denuncia 
tions  of  them.  This  was  the  cause  of  the  growing  discontent,  and 
the  desire  to  throw  him  off  as  a  leader. 

His  patriotic  endeavors  to  overturn  that  colossus  of  turpitude,  the 
Yazoo  speculation,  was  the  cause  of  the  hostility  which  soon  mani 
fested  itself  against  him  in  the  ranks  of  the  administration.  Un 
fortunately,  too  many  were  interested  in  upholding  this  gigantic 
robbery.  The  reader  has  already  been  made  acquainted  with  its 
character ;  by  a  reference  to  chapter  thirteen  of  this  volume,  he  will 
see  something  of  its  history.  Randolph  was  in  Georgia  at  the  time 
of  the  perpetration  of  this  villany,  and  participated  in  the  shame 
and  mortification  of  his  friends  at  seeing  persons,  reputed  religious 
and  respectable,  effecting  a  public  robbery,  by  bribing  the  legisla 
tors  of  the  State,  and  reducing  them  to  the  horrors  of  treachery 
and  perjury.  A  more  detestable,  impudent,  and  dangerous  villany 
is  not  to  be  found  on  record.  Notwithstanding  the  notoriety  of  these 
transactions  in  the  State  of  Georgia — the  law  was  not  only  pronounc 
ed  unconstitutional,  fraudulent  and  void,  was  not  only  repealed, 
but  it  was  burnt  by  the  common  hangman,  and  the  record  of  it 
expunged  from  the  statute  book — notwithstanding  these  facts,  known 
to  all  men,  a  company  of  individuals  in  other  States  purchased  up 


200  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

this  fraudulent  title  and  presented  their  petition  to  Congress,  asking 
remuneration  for  the  land,  which  in  the  mean  time  had  been  trans 
ferred  by  Georgia  to  the  United  States. 

In  the  "  Articles  of  Agreement  and  Cession"  between  Georgia 
and  the  United  States,  is  a  proviso  that  the  United  States  may  dis 
pose  of,  or  appropriate  a  portion  of  the  said  lands,  not  exceeding 
five  millions  of  acres,  or  the  proceeds  of  the  five  millions  of  acres,  or 
any  part  thereof,  for  the  purpose  of  satisfying,  quieting,  or  compen 
sating  for  any  claims,  other  than  those  recognized  in  the  articles  of 
agreement,  which  may  be  made  to  the  said  lands.  It  was  under  this 
provision,  that  the  New  England  and  Mississippi  Land  Company, 
who  in  the  mean  time  had  purchased  the  spurious  title  of  the  origi 
nal  grantees  of  a  corrupt  legislature,  petitioned  Congress  to  satisfy 
their  claim  by  a  fair  purchase  or  commutation.  In  the  session  of 
1802-3,  this  subject  was  first  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  legis 
lature.  Mr.  Madison  and  Mr.  Gallatin,  members  of  the  President's 
cabinet,  and  Mr.  Levi  Lincoln,  were  appointed  commissioners  to 
investigate  this  subject.  They  made  an  elaborate  report,  and  con 
cluded  with  a  proposition,  that  so  much  of  the  five  millions  of  acres 
as  shall  remain  after  having  satisfied  the  claims  of  settlers  and 
others,  not  recognized  by  the  agreement  with  Georgia,  which  shall 
be  confirmed  by  the  United  States,  be  appropriated  for  the  purpose 
of  satisfying  and  quieting  the  claims  of  the  persons  who  derive  their 
titles  from  an  Act  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  passed  on  the  7th  day  of 
January,  1795.  Thus  we  see  that  the  leading  members  of  the  ad 
ministration  were  pledged  to  the  justice  of  this  claim,  and  the  pro 
priety  of  some  compensation  on  the  part  of  the  United  States. 

Gideon  Granger,  the  Postmaster  General,  was  at  the  head  of 
the  New  England  and  Mississippi  Land  Company,  and  was  its  agent 
to  prosecute  the  claim  before  Congress.  He  wrote  an  extended  and 
elaborate  argument  to  prove  that  the  Company  were  innocent  pur 
chasers  without  notice ;  and  indeed  he  undertook  to  cast  censure  on 
the  people  of  Georgia  for  repudiating  and  repealing  the  act  of  a 
bribed  legislature,  and  to  charge  that  State  and  the  United  States 
with  injustice  in  appropriating  to  themselves  lands  which  had 
been  legally  sold  by  the  State  and  purchased  by  his  Company.  Not 
only,  therefore,  was  the  cabinet  of  the  President  committed  as  to 
the.  justice  of  this  claim  ;  but  one  of  its  most  active  and  influential 
members  was  deeply  interested  personally  in  its  success. 


SEVENTH  AND  EIGHTH  CONGRESSES.  201 

Mr.  Randolph  opposed  it,  however,  from  the  beginning :  he  knew 
its  origin,  its  history ;  and  no  consideration  of  prudence  or  policy 
could  induce  him  for  a  moment  to  tolerate  the  monstrons  iniquity. 

On  the  25th  of  January,  1805,  a  resolution  was  introduced  into 
the  House,  that  three  commisssioners  be  appointed  to  receive  pro 
positions  of  compromise  and  settlement  from  the  several  compa 
nies  or  persons  holding  claims  to  lands  within  the  present  limits  of 
the  Mississippi  Territory,  in  such  manner  as  in  their  opinion  shall 
conduce  to  the  interests  of  the  United  States,  provided  such  settle 
ment  shall  not  exceed  the  limit  prescribed  by  the  convention  with 
the  State  of  Georgia.  This  resolution  was  introduced  by  a  few 
remarks  from  Mr.  Dana,  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Claims. 

Mr.  Randolph  then  rose  : — "  Perhaps,"  said  he,  "  it  may  be  sup 
posed  from  the  course  which  this  business  has  taken,  that  the  adver 
saries  of  the  present  measure  indulge  the  expectation  of  being  able 
to  come  forward  at  a  future  day — not  to  this  House,  for  that  hope 
was  desperate,  but  to  the  public — with  a  more  matured  opposition 
than  it  is  in  their  power  now  to  make.  But  past  experience  has 
shown  to  them  that  this  is  one  of  those  subjects  which  pollution  has 
sanctified,  that  the  hallowed  mysteries  of  corruption  are  not  to  be 
profaned  by  the  eye  of  public  curiosity.  No,  sir,  the  orgies  of  Yazoo 
speculation  are  not  to  be  laid  open  to  the  public  gaze.  None  but  the 
initiated  are  permitted  to  behold  the  monstrous  sacrifice  of  the  best 
interest  of  the  nation  on  the  altar  of  corruption.  When  this  abomi 
nation  is  to  be  practised,  we  go  into  conclave.  Do  we  apply  to  the 
press,  that  potent  engine,  the  dread  of  tyrants  and  of  villains,  but  the 
shield  of  freedom  and  of  worth  ?  No,  sir,  the  press  is  gagged.  On 
this  subject  we  have  a  virtual  sedition  law ;  not  with  a  specious  title, 
but  irresistible  in  its  operations,  which  goes  directly  to  its  object. 
This  demon  of  speculation  has  wrested  from  the  nation  at  one  sweep, 
their  best,  their  only  defence,  and  has  closed  the  avenue  of  informa 
tion.  But  a  day  of  retribution  may  yet  come.  If  their  rights  are 
to  be  bartered  away,  and  their  property  squandered,  the  people  must 
not,  they  shall  not  be  kept  in  ignorance  by  whom  it  is  done.  We 
have  often  heard  of  party  spirit,  of  caucuses,  as  they  are  termed,  to 
settle  legislative  questions,  but  never  have  I  seen  that  spirit  so  visible 
as  at  present.  The  out-door  intrigue  is  too  palpable  to  be  disguised. 
When  it  was  proposed  to  abolish  the  judiciary  system,  reared  in  the 

VOL.  i.  9* 


202  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

last  moments  of  an  expiring  administration,  the  detested  offspring 
of  a  midnight  hour;  when  the  question  of  repeal  was  before  the 
House ;  it  could  not  be  taken  until  midnight  in  the  third  or  fourth 
week  of  the  discussion.  When  the  great  and  good  man  who  now  fills, 
and  who  (whatever  may  be  the  wishes  of  our  opponents)  I  hope  and 
trust  will  long  fill  the  executive  chair,  not  less  to  his  own  honor  than 
to  the  happiness  of  his  fellow-citizens — when  he  recommended  the 
repeal  of  the  internal  taxes,  delay  succeeded  delay,  till  patience  itself 
was  worn  threadbare.  But  now,  when  public  plunder  is  the  order 
of  the  day,  how  are  we  treated  1  Driven  into  a  committee  of  the 
whole,  and  out  again  in  a  breath  by  an  inflexible  majority,  exulting 
in  their  strength,  a  decision  must  be  had  immediately.  The  advo 
cates  for  the  proposed  measure  feel  that  it  will  not  bear  scrutiny. 
Hence  this  precipitancy.  They  wince  from  the  touch  of  examination, 
and  are  willing  to  hurry  through  a  painful  and  disgraceful  discussion. 
As  if  animated  by  one  spirit,  they  perform  all  their  evolutions  with 
the  most  exact  discipline,  and  march  in  firm  phalanx  directly  up  to 
their  object.  Is  it  that  men  combined  together  to  effect  some  evil 
purpose,  acting  on  previous  pledge  to  each  other,  are  even  more  in 
unison  than  those  who,  seeking  only  to  discover  truth,  obey  the  im 
pulse  of  that  conscience  which  God  has  placed  in  their  bosom  ?  Such 
men  will  not  stand  compromited.  They  will  not  stifle  the  sugges 
tions  of  their  own  minds,  and  sacrifice  their  private  opinions  to  the 
attainment  of  some  nefarious  object. 

"  The  memorialists  plead  ignorance  of  that  fraud  by  which  the 
act  from  which  their  present  title  was  derived,  was  passed.  As  it 
has  been  a  pretext  for  exciting  the  compassion  of  the  legislature,  I 
wish  to  examine  the  ground  upon  which  this  allegation  rests.  When 
the  act  of  stupendous  villany  was  passed,  in  1795,  attempting  under 
the  form  and  semblance  of  law  to  rob  unborn  millions  of  their  birth 
right  and  inheritance,  and  to  convey  to  a  band  of  unprincipled  and 
flagitious  men,  a  territory  more  extensive,  more  fertile  than  any 
State  in  the  Union,  it  caused  a  sensation  scarcely  less  violent 
than  that  caused  by  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act,  or  the  shutting  up 
of  the  port  of  Boston :  with  this  difference,  that  when  the  Port  Bill 
of  Boston  passed,  her  Southern  brethren  did  not  take  advantage  of 
the  forms  of  law,  by  which  a  corrupt  legislature  attempted  to  de 
fraud  her  of  the  bounties  of  nature ;  they  did  not  speculate  on  the 


SEVENTH  AND  EIGHTH  CONGRESSES.  203 

wrongs  of  their  insulted  countrymen.  *****  Sanction  this  claim, 
derived  from  the  act  of  1795,  and  what,  in  effect,  do  you  declare? 
You  record  a  solemn  acknowledgment  that  Congress  has  unfairly  and 
dishonestly  obtained  from  Georgia  a  grant  of  land  to  which  that  State 
had  no  title,  having  previously  sold  it  to  others  for  a  valuable  consid 
eration,  of  which  transaction  Congress  was  at  the  time  fully  apprised. 
The  agents  of  this  Mississippi  Land  Company  set  out  with  an  attempt 
to  prove  that  they  are  entitled  to  the  whole  fifty  millions  of  acres  of 
land,  under  the  act  of  1 795 ;  and  thus  they  make  their  plea  to  be 
admitted  to  a  proportional  share  of  five.  If  they  really  believed 
what  they  say,  would  they  be  willing  to  commute  a  good  legal  or 
equitable  claim  for  one-tenth  of  its  value  |  *  *  *  *  We  are  told  that 
we  stand  pledged,  and  that  an  appropriation  for  British  grants,  not 
granted  by  Spain  especially,  was  made  for  the  especial  benefit  of  a 
particular  class  of  claimants,  branded  too  by  the  deepest  odium,  who 
dare  talk  to  us  of  the  public  faith,  and  appeal  to  the  national  honor ! 
*  *  *  *  The  right  of  the  State  of  Georgia  to  sell  is  denied  by  your 
own  statute  book.  So  far  from  being  able  to  transfer  to  others  the 
right  to  extinguish  the  Indian  title  to  land,  she  has  not  been  able  to 
exercise  it  for  her  owil  benefit.  It  is  only  through  the  agency  of  the 
United  States  that  she  can  obtain  the  extinguishment  of  the  Indian 
title  to  the  sale  of  land  within  her  limits ;  much  less  could  she  dele 
gate  it  to  a  few  Yazoo  men.  *****  The  present  case  presents  a 
monstrous  anomaly,  to  which  the  ordinary  and  narrow  maxims  of 
municipal  jurisprudence  cannot  be  applied.  It  is  from  great  first 
principles,  to  which  the  patriots  of  Georgia  so  gloriously  appealed, 
that  we  must  look  for  aid  in  such  extremity.  Extreme  cases,  like 
this,  call  for  extreme  remedies.  They  bid  defiance  to  palliatives,  and 
it  is  only  by  the  knife,  or  the  actual  cautery,  that  you  can  expect  re 
lief.  There  is  no  cure  short  of  extirpation.  Attorneys  and  judges 
do  not  decide  the  fate  of  empires.  *****  The  Government  of  the 
United  States,  on  a  former  occasion,  did  not,  indeed,  act  in  this  firm 
and  decided  manner.  But  those  were  hard,  unconstitutional  times, 
that  never  ought  to  be  drawn  into  precedent.  The  first  year  I  had 
the  honor  of  a  seat  in  this  House,  an  act  was  passed  somewhat  of  a 
similar  nature  to  the  one  now  proposed.  I  allude  to  the  case  of  the 
Connecticut  Reserve,  by  which  the  nation  was  swindled  out  of  three 
or  four  millions  of  acres,  which,  like  other  bad  titles,  had  fallen  into 


204  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

the  hands  of  innocent  purchasers.  When  I  advert  to  the  applicants 
by  whom  we  were  then  beset,  I  find  among  them  one  of  the  persons 
who  styled  themselves  the  Agents  of  the  New  England  Mississippi 
Land  Company,  who  seems  to  have  an  unfortunate  knack  of  buying 
bad  titles.  His  gigantic  grasp  embraces  with  one  hand  the  shores  of 
Lake  Erie,  and  with  the  other  stretches  to  the  Bay  of  Mobile.  Mil 
lions  of  acres  are  easily  digested  by  such  stomachs.  Goaded  by  ava 
rice,  they  buy  only  to  sell,  and  sell  only  to  buy.  The  retail  trade  of 
fraud  and  imposture  yields  too  small  and  slow  a  profit  to  gratify  their 
cupidity.  They  buy  and  sell  corruption  in  the  gross,  and  a  few  mil 
lions  of  acres,  more  or  less,  is  hardly  feit  in  the  account.  The 
deeper  the  play,  the  greater  their  zest  in  the  game ;  and  the  stake 
which  is  set  upon  the  throw  is  nothing  less  than  the  patrimony  of  the 
people.  Mr.  Speaker,  when  I  see  the  agency  which  is  employed  on 
this  occasion,  I  must  own  that  it  fills  me  with  apprehension  and 
alarm.  The  same  agent  is  at  the  head  of  an  executive  department  of 
our  Government,  and  inferior  to  none  in  the  influence  attached  to  it. 
*  *  *  *  This  officer  presents  himself  at  your  bar,  at  once  a  party  and 
an  advocate.  Sir,  when  I  see  such  a  tremendous  influence  brought 
to  bear  upon  us,  I  do  confess  it  strikes  me  with  consternation  and 
despair.  Are  the  heads  of  executive  departments,  with  the  influ 
ence  and  patronage  attached  to  them,  to  extort  from  us  now,  what  we 
refused  at  the  last  session  of  Congress  ?*****  j  wm  pjn  my. 
self  upon  this  text,  and  preach  upon  it  as  long  as  I  have  life.  If  no 
other  reason  could  be  adduced,  but  for  a  regard  for  our  own  fame — if 
it  were  only  to  rescue  ourselves  from  this  foul  imputation — this  weak 
and  dishonorable  compromise  ought  to  receive  a  prompt  and  decisive 
rejection.  Is  the  voice  of  patriotism  lulled  to  rest,  that  we  no  longer 
hear  the  cry  against  an  overbearing  majority,  determined  to  put 
down  the  Constitution,  and  deaf  to  every  proposition  of  compromise  ? 
Such  were  the  dire  forebodings  to  which  we  have  been  compelled 
heretofore  to  listen.  But  if  the  enmity  of  such  men  be  formidable, 
their  friendship  is  deadly  destruction,  their  touch  deadly  pollution  ! 
What  is  the  spirit  against  which  we  now  struggle — which  we  have 
vainly  endeavored  to  stifle  1  A  monster  generated  by  fraud,  nursed 
in  corruption,  that  in  grim  silence  awaits  its  prey.  It  is  the  spirit 
of  Federalism." 

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 


FRIENDSHIP.  205 

It  may  readily  be  conceived  what  effect  this  and  similar  speeches 
which  had  been  delivered,  whenever  the  subject  was  presented,  would 
have  on  the  members  of  the  republican  party  who  were  interested, 
for  themselves  or  their  friends,  in  the  Yazoo  speculation.  An  in 
trigue  was  set  on  foot  to  supplant  Mr.  Randolph.  It  was  determined 
that  he  should  be  put  down.  The  Postmaster  General  openly  de 
clared  that  he  or  Randolph — one  must  fall.  This  expression  was  un 
derstood  as  intimating  an  intention  to  call  him  out.  Some  one 
observed  that  Randolph  would  not  be  backward  in  answering  to  a 
call  of  that  kind.  He  replied,  not  in  that  way — "  I  mean,  as  a  public 
man — as  a  political  character."  After  the  adjournment  of  Congress, 
March,  1805,  he  made  a  tour  of  the  New  England  States,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  organizing  a  party  to  pull  down  Randolph.  Some  of  the  re 
publican  members  from  that  quarter  gave  countenance  to  the  plan, 
and  Mr.  Barnabas  Bidwell  was  put  forward  as  their  file-leader. 
These  men  insinuated  themselves  into  favor,  and  assumed  to  be  the 
exclusive  friends  of  the  President ;  but  they  were  charged,  many  of 
them,  with  being  in  league  with  Burr,  and  having  no  other  design  but 
to  embarrass  the  Executive,  and  to  force  the  President  into  a  sanction 
of  their  views.  "  If  some  members  of  Congress,"  says  a  leading  jour 
nal  of  that  day,  "  are  to  be  bribed  with  post-office  contracts  to  obtain 
their  votes  for  a  nefarious  speculation,  on  one  hand  ;  and  if  a  member 
of  Congress,  superior  to  all  corruption,  and  all  pollution  or  dishonor, 
is  to  be  pulled  down ;  and  the  offices  of  Government  are  to  be  em 
ployed  to  such  ends  ;  it  is  vain  to  pretend  that  republican  govern 
ment  can  stand,  if  such  corruption  and  such  corrupt  men  are  suffered 
to  retain  all  the  power,  which  they  prostitute ;  and  if  men  of  virtue, 
honor,  talents  and  integrity,  are  to  be  made  victims  of  intrigue,  bot 
tomed  on  such  corruption." 


CHAPTEE   XXYIII. 

FKIENDSHIP. 

WE  have  seen  what  an  immense  task,  and  what  a  weight  of  responsi 
bility,  devolved  on  Mr.  Randolph  for  the  last  four  years.  He  found 
time,  nevertheless,  to  keep  up  an  extensive  correspondence  with  his 


206  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

friends.  He  had  now  added  to  the  list  his  two  half-brothers  and 
their  sister,  who  were  just  growing  up.  His  sentiments  in  regard  to 
the  conduct  of  a  family  towards  those  "  worthy  lads,"  who  just  begin 
to  feel  the  pride  and  self-importance  of  budding  manhood,  are  so  true 
and  so  worthy  of  imitation,  that  we  give  them  to  the  reader. — 
"  Give  to  dear  Beverly,"  says  he,  "  my  warmest  love.  Let  me,  my 
dear  sister,  caution  you  (and  be  not  offended  at  it)  respecting  that 
worthy  lad.  Treat  him  with  a  marked  attention,  I  know  you  love 
him  tenderly — he  is  deserving  of  it.  Display  that  affection  by  a  man 
ner  the  most  considerate  and  kind.  Cherish  him ;  for  he  is  a  jewel  above 
price.  Beverly  is  now  of  an  age  to  receive  from  every  body  the  treat 
ment  due  to  a  man — a  young  one,  I  grant — and  to  a  gentleman.  No 
consideration  should  dispense  with  this  conduct  on  any  part.  It  does 
not  imply  formality,  but  respect — not  coldness,  but  kind  attention. 
These,  I  pronounce,  are  essentially  requisite,  and  in  a  greater  degree 
than  usual,  to  the  development  of  his  amiable  character." 

But  poor  Thompson  continued,  by  his  erratic  ways,  to  keep  alive 
the  anxious  solicitude  of  his  friend.  That  brilliant,  though  wayward 
genius,  had  fallen  into  desperate  courses.  Calumny,  acting  on  a 
morbid  sensibility,  had  banished  him  from  that  home  where  alone  he 
could  find  sympathy  and  encouragement.  Misfortune  had  so  per 
verted  his  feelings,  as  to  make  him,  in  the  spirit  of  misanthropy, 
shun  the  observation  of  those  that  once  knew  and  respected  him,  and 
to  seek  oblivion  and  forgetfulness  in  the  haunts  of  low  dissipation. 
Now  was  the  time  to  test  true  friendship.  The  cold  world  would 
pass  him  by  with  averted  look,  and  protest  they  never  knew  him  ; 
the  friend  would  take  him  by  the  hand,  and  gently  and  affectionately 
draw  him  back  to  the  paths  of  virtue.  Randolph  professed  to  be  his 
friend — how  nobly  did  he  redeem  that  pledge !  In  the  following  let 
ter,  he  speaks  to  him  in  plainness  and  in  truth.  But  whilst  he 
does  not  spare  his  erring  friend,  his  censure  is  accompanied  with 
such  a  tone  of  delicacy  and  aifection,  as  to  melt  the  most  obdurate 
heart,  and  kindle  emotions  of  reformation  in  the  most  desperate 
outcast. 

"  Whatever  may  be  the  motives,"  says  he,  "  which  have  determined 
you  to  renounce  all  intercourse  with  me,  it  becomes  me,  perhaps,  to 
respect  them  ;  yet  to  be  deterred  from  my  present  purpose  by  punc 
tilio  would  evince  a  coldness  of  temper  which  I  trust  does  not  belong 


FRIENDSHIP.  207 

to  me,  and  would,  at  the  same  time,  convict  me  to  myself  of  the  most 
pitiful  insincerity,  in  professing  for  you  a  regard  which  has  never 
been  inferior  to  my  professions,  and  which  is  not  in  any  circumstance 
entirely  to  destroy.  To  tell  you  that  during  the  last  three  months 
I  have  observed  your  progress  through  life  with  uninterrupted  and 
increasing  anxiety,  would  be  to  give  you  a  faint  idea  of  what  has 
passed  in  my  mind.  The  mortification  which  I  have  experienced  on 
hearing  you  spoken  of  in  terms  of  frigid  and  scanty  approbation,  can 
only  be  exceeded  by  that  which  I  have  felt  on  the  silent  embarrass 
ment  which  my  inquiries  have  occasioned  those  who  were  unwilling 
to  wound  your  character  or  my  feelings.  You  know  me  too  well, 
William,  to  suppose  that  my  inquiries  have  been  directed  by  the 
miserable  spirit  which  seeks  to  exalt  itself  on  the  depression  of  others. 
They  have,  on  the  contrary,  been  very  few,  and  made  with  the  most 
guarded  circumspection.  To  say  the  truth.  I  have  never  felt  myself 
equal  to  the  task  of  hearing  the  recital  of  details  which  were  too 
often  within  my  reach,  and  which  not  unfrequently  courted  my  atten 
tion.  They  have  always  received  from  me  the  most  decisive  repulse. 
My  own  pride  would  never  bear  the  humiliation  of  permitting  any 
one  to  witness  the  mortification  which  I  felt.  After  all  this  pream 
ble,  let  me  endeavor  to  effect  the  purpose  of  this  address.  Let  me 
beg  of  you  to  ask  yourself  what  are  your  present  pursuits,  and  how 
far  congenial  to  your  feelings  or  character.  I  have  not,  I  cannot, 
so  far  have  mistaken  you  ;  you  cannot  so  successfully  have  deceived 
yourself.  Yours  is  not  the  mind  which  can  derive  any  real  or  last 
ing  gratification  from  the  pursuits  or  the  attainments  of  a  grovelling 
ambition.  These  may  afford  a  temporary  and  imperfect  relief  from 
that  voice  which  tells  you  who  you  are,  and  what  is  expected  from 
you.  The  world  is  well  disposed  to  forgive  the  aberrations  of  youth 
ful  indiscretion  from  the  straight  road  of  prudence  ;  but  there  is  a 
point  beyond  which  its  temper  can  no  longer  be  played  upon.  After 
a  certain  degree  of  resistance,  it  becomes  more  prone  to  asperity 
than  it  had  ever  been  to  indulgence.  But  grant  that  its  good  nature 
were  unlimited,  you  are  not  the  character  who  can  be  content  to  hold 
by  so  humiliating  a  tenure  that  which  you  can  and  ought  to  demand 
of  right.  Can  you  be  content  to  repose  on  the  courtesy  of  mankind 
for  that  respect  which  you  may  challenge  as  your  due,  and  which 
may  be  enforced  when  withheld  ?  Can  you  quit  the  high  ground  and 
attitude  of  self-esteem  to  solicit  the  precarious  Wmtv  of  a 


208  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

contemptuous  and  contemptible  world  ?  I  can  scarcely  forgive  my 
self  for  dwelling  so  long  on  so  invidious  a  theme.  I  have  long  medi 
tated  to  address  you  on  this  subject.  One  of  the  dissuasives  from 
the  plan  is  now  removed.  Let  me  again  conjure  you  to  ask  yourself 
seriously,  What  are  your  present  objects  of  pursuit?  How  far  any 
laudable  acquirement  can  be  attained  by  a  town  residence,  particu 
larly  in  a  tavern?  Whether  such  a  life  be  compatible  with  the 
maintenance  of  that  respectability  of  character  which  is  necessary  to 
give  us  value  in  the  eyes  of  others  or  of  ourselves  ?  And  let  me  con 
jure  you  to  dissolve  by  a  single  exertion  the  spell  which  now  enchains 
you.  The  only  tie  which  could  have  bound  you  is  no  more.  Town 
fetters  are  but  those  of  habit,  and  that  of  but  short  standing.  Were 
it  confirmed,  there  would  indeed  be  but  little  hope,  and  this  letter 
would  never  have  been  penned.  As  it  would  be  improper  to  urge 
the  dissolution  of  your  present  plan  of  life  without  pointing  out  some 
alternative,  I  recommend  a  residence  of  twelve  or  eighteen  months 
with  Taylor,  and  a  serious  application,  before  it  be  too  late,  to  that 
profession  which  will  be  a  friend  to  you  when  the  sunshine  insects 
who  have  laughed  with  you  in  your  prosperity  shall  have  passed  away 
with  the  genial  season  which  gave  them  birth.  The  hour  is  fast 
approaching,  be  assured,  when  it  will  be  in  vain  to  attempt  the  ac 
quirement  of  professional  knowledge.  Too  well  I  know  that  readi 
ness  of  apprehension  and  sprightliness  of  imagination  will  not  make 
amends  for  application.  The  latter  serves  but  to  light  up  our  igno 
rance. 

"  There  is  one  topic  on  which  I  cannot  trust  even  my  pen.  Did  I 
not  believe  that  this  letter  would  occasion  you  pain,  it  certainly  never 
had  been  written.  Yet  to  write  it  with  that  view  would  be  a 
purpose  truly  diabolical.  You  are  a  physician  ;  you  probe  not  the 
wounds  of  the  dead.  Yet  'tis  to  heal,  and  not  to  agonize,  that  you 
insert  your  instrument  into  the  living  body.  Whatever  may  be  the 
effect  of  this  attempt — whatever  may  be  the  disposition  which  it  cre 
ates  in  you,  I  shall  never,  while  you  live,  cease  to  feel  an  interest  in 
your  fate.  Every  one  here  remembers  you  with  undiminished  affec 
tion.  If  I  judge  from  myself,  you  are  more  than  ever  interesting  to 
them,  and  whenever,  if  ever,  you  revisit  Bizarre,  you  will  recognize 
in  every  member  of  the  family  your  unchanged  friends. 

"  Adieu, 

«J.  R.,  JR." 


FRIENDSHIP.  209 

This  last  and  noble  effort  to  redeem  a  fallen  friend  was  not  in 
vain.  The  advice  was  followed.  Thompson  spent  a  few  months  with 
Creed  Taylor,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bizarre;  he  then  went  to 
Richmond  and  read  law,  in  the  office  of  George  Hay,  Esq.,  a  distin 
guished  lawyer  and  politician  of  that  day.  From  this  time,  with 
few  exceptions,  his  letters  are  more  cheerful,  and  replete  with  sallies 
of  his  fine  genius ;  he  communicates  much  instructive  and  amusing 
information  about  the  proceedings  of  the  legislature,  and  the  leading 
characters  of  Richmond;  and  never  failed  to  give  vent  to  those 
deep  feelings  of  gratitude  that  swelled  in  his  bosom,  towards  one  who 
had  been  to  him  a  brother  indeed,  in  his  hour  of  degradation  and 
misfortune. 

Having  obtained  a  competent  knowledge  of  his  profession,  Mr. 
Randolph  procured  for  him  an  office  in  the  newly  acquired  territory 
of  Louisiana — encouraged  him  to  break  off  from  his  old  associations, 
and  to  seek  his  fortune  anew,  in  a  land  of  strangers.  In  the  spring 
of  1804,  he  married  a  virtuous  and  accomplished  wife,  and  set  out  on 
his  journey  to  the  far  west,  with  all  those  bright  prospects  that  his 
ardent  imagination  knew  so  well  how  to  picture  before  him.  This  is 
the  last  letter  ever  addressed  to  him  by  his  friend : 

BIZARRE,  13  May,  1804. 

"  When  I  requested  you  to  inquire  at  the  post-office  at  Abing- 
ton  for  a  letter  from  me,  it  did  not  occur  to  me  by  how  circuitous  a 
route  my  communication  must  travel  before  it  could  reach  that  place. 
To  guard  against  accidents,  therefore,  I  have  directed  it  to  be  for 
warded  to  Nashville,  in  case  you  should  have  left  Abington  before 
its  arrival  there.  We  have  been  every  day  suggesting  to  ourselves 
the  inconvenience  to  which  you  must  have  been  exposed  by  the  bad 
weather  which  we  have  invariably  experienced  ever  since  your 
departure,  and  regretting  that  the  situation  of  your  affairs  would  not 
permit  you  to  continue  with  us  until  a  change  took  place.  You,  how 
ever,  my  good  friend,  have  embarked  upon  too  serious  a  voyage  to 
take  into  consideration  a  little  rough  weather  upon  the  passage.  The 
wish  which  I  feel  to  add  my  mite  to  the  counsels  through  which  alone 
it  can  prove  prosperous,  is  repressed  by  the  reflection,  that  your  suc 
cess  depends  upon  the  discovery  of  no  new  principle  of  human 
affairs,  but  upon  the  application  of  such  as  are  familiar  to  all,  and 
which  none  know  better  how  to  estimate  than  yourself.  Decision, 


210  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

firmness,  independence,  which  equally  scorns  to  yield  our  own 
rights  as  to  detract  from  those  of  others,  are  the  only  guides  to  the 
esteem  of  the  world,  or  of  ourselves.  A  reliance  upon  our  resources 
for  all  things,  but  especially  for  relief  against  that  arch  fiend  the 
taedium  vitae,  can  alone  guard  us  against  a  state  of  dependence  and 
contempt.  But  I  am  growing  sententious,  and,  of  course,  pedantic. 
Judy  joins  me  in  every  good  wish  to  yourself  and  Mrs.  Thompson. 
Permit  me  to  add  that  there  is  one  being  in  the  world  who  will  ever 
be  ready  to  receive  you  with  open  arms,  whatsoever  may  be  the  fate 
of  the  laudable  endeavors  which  you  are  now  making. 
"  Yours,  truly, 

"  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 
"WM.  THOMPSON." 

Poor  Thompson  did  not  live  to  test  the  strength  of  his  redeemed 
virtue,  and  to  make  a  new  application  of  those  principles  that  he  had 
learned  in  the  school  of  adversity  so  well  how  to  estimate.  He  died 
by  the  way-side,  and  all  the  renewed  hopes  of  himself  and  of  his 
friend,  were  swallowed  up  in  the  oblivious  night  of  death.  On  the 
back  of  the  copy  of  the  foregoing  letter,  which  is  written  in  Mr. 
Randolph's  own  handwriting,  is  found  the  following  endorsement : 
"W.  T.,  May  13,  1804.  Alas!"  What  more  could  he  write  as  an 
epitaph  on  the  lonely  tomb  of  this  wandering,  ill-starred  young  man  ? 
Alas !  alas  !  was  all  that  could  be  said  of  the  misfortunes  and  the 
untimely  end  of  poor  William  Thompson. 

Joseph  Bryan,  in  the  meantime,  had  returned  from  his  travels ; 
the  joyous,  free-hearted  Bryan  had  ceased  "  fighting  the  Russians," 
recrossed  the' broad  Atlantic  main,  and  from  his  sea-girt  isle  was  in 
diting  letters  to  his  friend,  describing  the  cities  he  had  seen,  the  men 
and  their  manners — if  not  with  the  depth  of  observation  of  the  wise 
Ulysses,  at  least  with  as  much  pleasure  and  freedom  of  narration. 
He  urged  his  old  companion  to  visit  once  more  his  friends  in  Geor 
gia  :  "  You  are  the  popular  man  here,"  says  he,  "  the  federalists  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding."  But  Randolph,  ever  seeking  to  make  his 
friends  useful  to  themselves  and  to  their  country,  turned  the  thoughts 
of  this  volatile  young  man  to  a  higher  aim. 

On  his  solicitation,  Bryan  became  a  candidate  for  Congress ;  was 
defeated;  renewed  the  attempt,  and  was  successful.  He  stood  by 


FRIENDSHIP.  211 

the  side  of  his  gallant  friend  and  fought  manfully  that  Medusa  head 
of  fraud,  the  Yazoo  speculation,  whenever  it  reared  its  horrid  front 
upon  the  floor  of  Congress.  He  had  been  to  Bizarre,  and  formed  an 
acquaintance  with  the  charming  society  there,  of  which  he  ever  after 
wards  spoke  in  terms  of  the  highest  admiration ;  he  had  hunted, 
fished,  flown  kites,  and  played  marbles  with  "  the  boys  ;"  but  above 
all,  his  wild  fancy  had  been  caught  at  last,  and,  like  the  fly  in  the 
spider's  web,  he  was  entangled  in  the  inextricable  meshes  of  all- 
conquering  love.  Miss  Delia  Foreman,  daughter  of  General  Fore 
man,  of  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland,  intimate  friends  of  Mr. 
Randolph,  was  the  charming  object  of  attraction.  The  summer 
recess  of  1804  was  spent  in  Georgia,  but  the  island  in  the  sea,  with 
all  its  means  of  pleasure,  had  lost  its  charm,  and  he  was  about  to 
desert  it,  and  to  go  in  search  of  the  fair  nymph  whose  dwelling  looked 
out  on  the  broad  waters  of  the  Chesapeake. 

On  the  8th  of  September,  1804,  from  Bizarre  his  friend  writes  to 
him  :  "  Should  this  find  you  at  Wilmington,  which  I  heartily  wish  it 
may  not,  I  trust,  my  dear  Bryan,  that  you  will  derive  the  most  satis 
factory  information  from  the  inclosed  respecting  your  fair  tyrant. 
To  me  the  Major  says  not  a  word  on  the  subject  of  his  daughter,  but 
I  infer  from  a  variety  of  circumstances  that  she  is  about  this  time  on 
a  visit  to  her  aunt,  Mrs.  Van  Bibber,  in  Gloucester,  about  eighty 
miles  from  Richmond ;  I  hope,  therefore,  very  soon  to  see  you  in 
Virginia. 

"  I  have  nothing  worth  relating,  except  that  Mrs.  Randolph  was 
almost  as  much  disappointed  as  myself  when  our  messenger  arrived 
last  night  from  the  post-ofiice  without  a  letter  from  you.  How  easy 
would  it  be,  once  a  week,  to  say  '  I  am  at  such  a  place,  in  such  health, 

and  to-morrow  shall  go  to •.'     These  little  bulletins  of  your 

well-being  and  motions  would  be  a  thousand  times  more  interesting 
to  me  than  those  of  his  Britannic  Majesty's  health,  or  his  Corsican 
Highness's  expeditions.     Let  me  beg  of  you  to  make  dispatch. 
"  Yours  as  ever, 

"  JOHN  RANDOLPH." 

After  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  March,  1805,  Bryan  hastened 
on  to  Chestertown  to  be  married.  On  the  8th  of  March  he  writes 
from  that  place :  "  You  will  hardly  believe  me  when  I  tell  you. 


212  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

that  my  tyrants  have  had  the  unparalleled  barbarity  to  postpone 
my  marriage  until  the  25th  of  this  month.  Sumptuousness,  pomp, 
parade,  &c.,  must  be  observed  in  giving  away  a  jewel  worth  more  than 
the  kingdoms  of  this  world. — I  rather  suspect  I  shall  be  myself  the 
most  awkward  and  ungraceful  movable  used  on  the  occasion :  curso 
it,  I  hate  to  be  exhibited ;  and  nothing  but  the  possession  of  the 
jewel  itself  would  induce  me  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  felicitation  I 

shall  receive  from  the  whole  file  of  collaterals. Lovely  as  her 

person  is,  I  prize  her  heart  more.  Jack !  what  have  I  done  to  in 
duce  the  good  Grod  to  favor  me  so  highly  ?  Sinner  that  I  am,  I 
deserve  not  the  smallest  of  his  gifts,  and  behold  I  am  treated  more 
kindly  than  even  Abraham,  who  saw  Grod  face  to  face,  and  was  called 
his  friend  ;  he,  poor  fellow,  had  to  put  up  with  his  sister  Sarah,  who, 
beside  other  exceptionable  qualities,  was  cursed  with  a  bad  temper ; 
while  I,  having  sought  among  the  beauties  of  the  earth,  have  found  and 
obtained  the  loveliest  and  best,  which  I  am  willing  to  prove  against 
all  comers  on  foot  or  on  horseback,  in  the  tented  field  with  sword 
and  spear,  or  on  the  roaring  ocean  at  the  cannon's  mouth.  If  you 
will  come  and  see  us  (on  their  island  in  the  sea),  my  Delia  will 
make  one  of  her  best  puddings  for  your  entertainment.  In  the  course 
of  a  year  or  two  you  may  expect  to  see  your  friend  Brain  metamor 
phosed  into  a  gentleman  of  high  polish,  able  to  make  as  spruce  a 
bow,  and  to  hand  a  lady  to  her  carriage  with  all  the  graces  of  an 
Adonis.  Adieu  !  may  heaven  prosper  and  bless  you." 

In  the  course  of  a  year  or  two,  alas  !  he  was  metamorphosed ;  the 
beautiful  Delia  also  faded  away ;  and  their  two  little  boys  were  left 
orphans !  John  Randolph  showed  his  attachment  to  the  father  by 
his  devotion  to  the  sons  ;  they  were  raised  partly  in  his  own  house, 
and  educated  at  his  expense.  The  oldest  and  the  namesake,  John 
Randolph  Bryan,  many  years  after  this  period,  when  he  grew  up  to 
manhood,  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Coulter,  the  niece  of  Mr.  Ran 
dolph  ;  "  my  charming  niece,"  as  he  used  to  call  her,  and  the  daughter 
of  his  beloved  and  only  sister.  Mr.  Bryan  and  his  accomplished 
wife  now  live  in  Gloucester  county,  Virginia,  on  the  Bay  Shore. 
A  bountiful  soil  blesses  them  with  its  abundant  fruits;  and  the  tide, 
that  daily  flows  at  their  feet,  wafts  to  their  door  the  rich  treasures  of 
the  sea.  May  they  long  live  to  enjoy  in  their  "  happy  nook"  the 
blessings  of  a  peaceful  home ;  and  to  dispense  that  elegant  hospi- 


NINTH  CONGRESS.  213 

tality,  so  rare  now,  but,  at  the  time  their  father  first  visited  Bizarre, 
so  common  in  the  Old  Dominion. 

The  causes  of  this  great  change,  or  at  least  some  of  them,  we  are 
now  about  to  investigate.  John  Randolph  has  said  that  "  The 
embargo,  like  Achilles'  wrath,  was  the  source  of  our  Iliad  of  woes !" 


CHAPTEK   XXIX. 

NINTH  CONGRESS. — FOREIGN  RELATIONS. — DIFFICULTIES  WITH 
FRANCE  AND  SPAIN. 

NEVER  had  an  administration  a  more  difficult  task  to  perform  than  that 
of  Mr.  Jefferson  at  this  time.  Ever  since  the  French  revolution  there 
had  been  a  constant  warfare,  with  short  breathing  intervals,  between 
France  and  England.  The  hostility  of  their  political  principles,  add 
ed  to  old  national  antipathies,  now  made  it  a  war  of  extermination. 
These  great  belligerent  powers  strove  to  involve  the  United  States  in 
the  controversy.  But  our  policy  was  neutrality  :  General  Washing 
ton  early  announced  this  course,  and  his  firm  hand  steadily  pursued 
it  so  long  as  he  grasped  the  helm  of  affairs.  Mr.  Adams  was  not  so 
successful — his  English  predilections  swerved  him  from  the  straight 
path  of  neutrality,  and  involved  his  administration  in  a  "  quasi  war" 
with  France.  Mr.  Jefferson  had  hitherto  been  eminently  successful 
in  all  his  domestic  and  foreign  policy.  But  now,  in  1805,  he  seemed 
to  be  involved  in  almost  inextricable  difficulties.  Our  embarrass 
ments  with  Spain,  France,  and  England,  had  grown  so  complicated 
and  critical,  that  it  seemed  impossible  to  escape  without  war,  or  na 
tional  disgrace.  The  purchase  of  Louisiana  removed  a  present  peril, 
but  brought  with  it  a  train  of  difficulties.  Bonaparte  made  the  sale 
just  before  his  meditated  rupture  of  the  treaty  of  Amiens,  and  at  a 
time  when  he  feared  the  province  would  be  wrested  from  him  by  the 
superior  maritime  power  of  England.  But  he  soon  repented  of  his 
bargain,  and  sought  every  opportunity  to  regain  his  lost  empire  be 
yond  the  Atlantic.  Spain,  but  three  years  before,  had  made  an  ex 
change  of  it  with  France,  and  had  not  surrendered  possession.  She 


214  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

was  much  displeased  at  the  transfer  made  by  the  First  Consul,  and 
between  them  they  embarrassed  the  United  States  as  much  as  they 
could,  and  threw  every  obstacle  in  the  way  of  a  full  and  peaceable 
possession  of  the  new  territory.  England  still  retained  much  of  her  old 
grudge  towards  the  United  States  as  revolted  provinces — looked  with 
a  jealous  eye  on  their  growing  commerce,  their  rising  greatness — and 
sought  every  opportunity  to  clip  the  wing  of  the  aspiring  eagle.  En 
tertaining  these  feelings  towards  the  peaceful  and  neutral  govern 
ment  beyond  the  Atlantic,  these  two  great  powers  were  involved  in  a 
war  of  life  and  death  between  themselves  ;  all  Europe  was  in  battal 
ion  ;  every  engine  of  destruction  was  brought  to  play ;  like  the  Ti 
tans  of  old,  they  tore  up  mountains,  islands,  whole  continents,  and 
hurled  them  at  each  other ;  the  globe  itself  seemed  as  though  it 
might  tumble  into  ruins  beneath  +heir  giant  warfare.  What  chance 
had  the  commerce  or  the  neutral  rights  of  the  United  States  to  be 
respected  in  such  a  strife  ?  The  President,  in  his  opening  message, 
the  3d  of  December,  1805,  describes  in  glowing  torms  the  destructive 
course  of  the  great  belligerents  towards  his  own  country.  Again, 
on  the  6th  of  December,  three  days  after  the  opening  of  Congress, 
he  sent  a  special  message  on  the  subject  of  Spanish  aggressions ; 
they  seemed  to  be  first  and  most  urgent.  The  depredations,  he  said, 
which  had  been  committed  on  the  commerce  of  the  United  States 
during  a  preceding  war,  by  persons  under  the  authority  of  Spain, 
had  been  adjusted  by  a  convention ;  so  also  the  spoliations  commit 
ted  by  Spanish  subjects  and  carried  into  ports  of  Spain  j  it  had  been 
likewise  agreed  that  those  committed  by  French  subjects  and  carried 
into  Spanish  ports  should  remain  for  further  discussion.  Before  this 
convention  was  returned  to  Spain  with  our  ratification,  the  transfer 
of  Louisiana  by  France  to  the  United  States  took  place,  an  event  as 
unexpected  as  disagreeable  to  Spain.  From  that  moment  she  seemed 
to  change  her  conduct  and  dispositions  towards  us ;  it  was  first  man 
ifested  by  her  protest  against  the  right  of  France  to  alienate  Louisi 
ana  to  us,  which,  however,  was  soon  retracted,  and  the  right  con 
firmed.  Her  high  offence  was  manifested  at  the  act  of  Congress  es 
tablishing  a  collection  district  on  the  Mobile,  although  by  an  authen 
tic  declaration,  immediately  made,  it  was  expressly  confirmed  to  our 
acknowledged  limits ;  and  she  now  refused  to  ratify  the  convention 
signed  by  her  own  minister  under  the  eye  of  his  sovereign,  unless  we 


NINTH  CONGRESS.  215 

would  consent  to  alterations  of  its  terms,  which  would  have  affected 
our  claims  against  her  for  spoliations  by  French  subjects  carried  into 
Spanish  ports. 

To  obtain  justice,  as  well  as  to  restore  friendship,  the  President 
thought  proper  to  send  Mr.  Monroe  on  a  special  mission  to  Spain. 
"  After  nearly  five  months  of  fruitless  endeavors,"  says  the  message, 
"  to  bring  them  to  some  definite  and  satisfactory  result,  our  ministers 
ended  the  conferences  without  having  been  able  to  obtain  indemnity 
for  spoliations  of  any  description,  or  any  satisfaction  as  to  the  boun 
daries  of  Louisiana,  other  than  a  declaration  that  we  had  no  right 
eastward  of  the  Iberville ;  and  that  our  line  to  the  west  was  one, 
which  would  have  left  us  but  a  string  of  land  on  that  bank  of  the 
Mississippi.  Our  injured  citizens  were  thus  left  without  any  pros 
pect  of  retribution  from  the  wrong-doer,  and  as  to  boundary,  each 
party  was  to  take  its  own  course.  That  which  they  have  chosen  to 
pursue  will  appear  from  the  documents  now  communicated.  They 
authorize  the  inference,  that  it  is  their  intention  to  advance  on  our 
possessions  until  they  shall  be  repressed  by  an  opposing  force" 

The  message  then  speaks  of  the  conduct  of  France  in  regard  to 
the  misunderstanding  between  the  United  States  and  Spain.  "  She 
was  prompt  and  decided  in  her  declarations,  that  her  demands  on 
Spain  for  French  spoliations  carried  into  Spanish  ports,  were  included 
in  the  settlement  between  the  United  States  and  France.  She  took 
at  once  the  ground,  that  she  had  acquired  no  right  from  Spain,  and 
had  meant  to  deliver  us  none,  eastward  of  the  Iberville." 

In  conclusion,  the  President  says :  "  The  present  crisis  in  Eu 
rope  is  favorable  for  pressing  a  settlement,  and  not  a  moment  should 
be  lost  in  availing  ourselves  of  it.  Should  it  pass  unimproved,  our 
situation  would  become  much  more  difficult.  Formal  war  is  not  ne 
cessary  ;  it  is  not  probable  it  will  follow ;  but  the  protection  of  our 
citizens,  the  spirit  and  honor  of  our  country  require,  that  force  should 
be  interposed  to  a  certain  degree ;  it  will  probably  contribute  to  ad 
vance  the  object  of  peace.  But  the  course  to  be  pursued  will  require 
the  command  of  means,  which  it  belongs  to  Congress  exclusively,  to 
deny  or  to  yield.  To  them  I  communicate  every  fact  material  for 
their  information,  and  the  documents  necessary  to  enable  them  to 
judge  for  themselves.  To  their  wisdom,  then,  I  look  for  the  course 
I  am  to  pursue,  and  will  pursue  with  sincere  zeal  that  which  they 
shall  approve." 


216  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

The  President  recommends  no  definite  plan  of  action — leaves 
every  thing  to  the  discretion  of  Congress  ;  but  it  is  obvious  that  he 
expected  them  to  appropriate  means  to  raise  an  army  of  some  sort, 
to  repel  the  invasions  of  Spain,  and  to  protect  the  persons  and  the 
property  of  our  citizens  in  the  disputed  territory. 

This  message  was  secret  and  confidential :  all  propositions  in  re 
gard  to  it  were  discussed  in  conclave.  The  debate  is  said  to  have 
taken  a  very  wide  range,  and  was  very  animated.  On  that  occasion, 
John  Randolph  is  said  to  have  delivered  the  ablest  and  most  elo 
quent  speech  ever  heard  on  the  floor  of  Congress.  When  this  mes 
sage  was  read  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  it  was  referred  to  a 
select  committee,  of  which  Mr.  Randolph  was  chairman.  He  imme 
diately  waited  on  the  President,  and  informed  him  of  the  direction 
which  had  been  given  to  the  message.  We  have  his  authority  for 
saying,  that  he  then  learned,  not  without  surprise,  that  an  appropri 
ation  of  two  millions  was  wanted  to  purchase  Florida !  He  told  the 
President  that  he  would  never  agree  to  such  a  measure,  because  the 
money  had  not  been  asked  for  in  the  message ;  that  he  would  not 
consent  to  shift  to  his  own  shoulders,  or  those  of  the  House,  the  pro 
per  responsibility  of  the  Executive.  If  the  money  had  been  explicit 
ly  demanded,  he  should  have  been  averse  to  granting  it,  because, 
after  a  total  failure  of  every  attempt  at  negotiation,  such  a  step 
would  disgrace  us  for  ever ;  because  France  would  never  withhold 
her  ill  offices,  when,  by  their  interposition,  she  could  extort  money 
from  us  ;  that  it  was  equally  to  the  interest  of  the  United  States,  to 
accommodate  the  matter  by  an  exchange  of  territory ; — (to  this  mode 
of  settlement  the  President  seemed  much  opposed) — that  the  nations 
of  Europe,  like  the  Barbary  powers,  would  hereafter  refuse  to  look 
on  the  credentials  of  our  ministers,  without  a  previous  douceur. 

The  committee  met  on  the  7th  of  December.  One  of  its  mem 
bers  (Bidwell  of  Massachusetts)  construed  the  message  into  a  requi 
sition  of  money  for  foreign  intercourse.  To  draw  such  a  conclusion, 
it  is  plain  he  must  have  had  some  other  key  of  interpretation  than 
that  of  the  words  in  which  the  message  was  expressed.  He  proposed 
a  grant  to  that  effect,  which  was  overruled.  On  the  14th  of  Decem 
ber,  the  chairman  was  obliged  to  go  to  Baltimore,  and  did  not  return 
till  the  21st  of  the  month.  During  this  interval,  the  dispatches  from 
Mr.  Monroe,  of  the  18th  and  25th  of  October,  bearing  on  the  subject 


MNTH  CONGRESS.  217 

of  Spanish  aggressions,  were  received  by  Government,  but  never 
submitted  to  the  committee.  Previous  to  the  chairman's  departure 
for  Baltimore,  he  had  occasion  to  call  on  the  Secretary  of  State 
(Madison)  to  obtain  a  passport  for  his  nephew,  Saint  George  Ran 
dolph,  whom  he  was  about  sending  to  Braidwood's  and  Sicard's 
schools,  near  London  and  Paris.  Mr.  Madison  took  this  opportu 
nity  to  enter  into  an  explanation  of  the  policy  about  to  be  pursued  in 
regard  to  Spanish  aggression.  He  concluded  his  remarks  with  the 
declaration,  that  France  would  not  permit  Spain  to  adjust  her  dif 
ferences  with  us  ;  that  France  wanted  money,  and  that  we  must  give 
it  to  her,  or  have  a  Spanish  and  French  war  ! 

It  will  be  remembered  that  this  declaration  was  made  to  one  who 
was  reputed  to  be  the  leader  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
who  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means.  The  ap 
propriation  here  intimated  would  have  to  be  recommended  by  that 
committee,  and  explained  and  defended  before  the  House  by  its 
chairman.  It  is  not  surprising  that  a  man  of  Mr.  Randolph's  high 
sense  of  honor  and  of  personal  dignity ;  and,  above  all,  that  one  who 
had  so  nice  a  perception  of  the  rights  of  the  representative,  and  of 
the  delicate  relation  existing  between  him  and  the  Executive,  which 
admitted  not  of  the  slightest  approach  towards  influence  or  dictation, 
should  have  fired  with  indignation  at  a  proposition  which  seemed  to 
make  him  and  the  House  of  Representatives  a  mere  tool  of  the  Exe 
cutive,  to  do  that  for  them  which  they  dare  not  avow  before  the 
world. 

When  this  declaration  was  made,  so  different  from  the  sentiments 
expressed  by  the  President's  public  and  secret  messages,  and  so 
humiliating  to  the  pride  and  honor  of  the  country,  Mr.  Randolph 
abruptly  left  the  presence  of  the  Secretary  with  this  remarkable  ex 
clamation,  "  Good  morning,  sir !  I  see  I  am  not  calculated  for  a 
politician  !" 

Mr.  Randolph  returned  from  Baltimore,  the  21st  of  December, 
and  convened  the  committee.  As  they  were  assembling,  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  (Gallatin)  called  him  aside,  and  put  into  his 
hands  a  paper  headed,  "  Provision  for  the  purchase  of  Florida." 

Mr.  Randolph  declared  he  would  not  vote  a  shilling ;  and  ex 
pressed  himself  disgusted  with  the  whole  of  this  proceeding,  which 
he  could  not  but  consider  as  highly  disingenuous — the  most  scrupu- 

VOL.  i.  10 


218  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

lous  care,  he  said,  had  been  taken  to  cover  the  reputation  of  the  ad 
ministration,  while  Congress  were  expected  to  act  as  though  they 
had  no  character  to  lose  ;  whilst  the  official  language  of  the  Executive 
was  consistent  and  dignified,  Congress  was  privately  required  to  take 
upon  itself  the  odium  of  shrinking  from  the  national  honor  and 
national  defence,  and  of  delivering  the  public  purse  to  the  first  cut 
throat  that  demanded  it.  From  the  official  communication,  from  the 
face  of  the  record,  it  would  appear  that  the  Executive  had  discharged 
his  duty  in  recommending  manly  and  vigorous  measures,  which  he  had 
been  obliged  to  abandon,  and  had  been  compelled,  by  Congress,  to  pur 
sue  an  opposite  course  ;  when,  in  fact,  Congress  had  been  acting  all  the 
while  at  Executive  instigation.  Mr.  Randolph  further  observed,  that 
he  did  not  understand  this  double  set  of  opinions  and  principles  ;  the 
one  ostensible,  to  go  upon  the  journals  and  before  the  public ;  the  other, 
the  efficient  and  real  motives  to  action  ;  that  he  held  true  wisdom  and 
cunning  to  be  utterly  incompatible  in  the  conduct  of  great  affairs  ;  that 
he  had  strong  objections  to  the  measure  itself;  but  in  the  shape  in  which 
it  was  presented,  his  repugnance  to  it  was  insuperable.  In  a  subse 
quent  conversation  with  the  President  himself,  in  which  those  objec 
tions  were  recapitulated,  he  declared  that  he  too  had  a  character  to 
support  and  principles  to  maintain,  and  avowed  his  determined  oppo 
sition  to  the  whole  scheme. 

On  the  3d  of  January,  1806,  Mr.  Randolph  made  a  report,  under  the 
instructions  of  the  committee,  which  seems  to  be  fully  responsive  to 
the  views  of  the  President,  as  expressed  in  both  his  messages.  "  The 
committee  have  beheld,"  says  the  report,  "  with  just  indignation,  the 
hostile  spirit  manifested  by  the  court  of  Madrid  towards  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,  in  withholding  the  ratification  of  its  con 
vention  with  us,  although  signed  by  its  own  minister,  under  the  eye 
of  his  sovereign,  unless  with  alteration  of  its'  terms,  affecting  claims 
of  the  United  States  which,  by  the  express  conditions  of  the  instru 
ment  itself,  were  reserved  for  future  discussion ;  in  piratical  depre 
dations  upon  our  fair  commerce ;  in  obstructing  the  navigation  of 
the  Mobile ;  in  refusing  to  come  to  any  fair  and  amicable  adjustment 
of  the  boundaries  of  Louisiana ;  and  in  a  daring  violation,  by  per 
sons  acting  under  the  authority  of  Spain,  and,  no  doubt,  apprised  of 
her  sentiments  and  views,  of  our  undisputed  limits,  which  she  had  so 
lemnly  recognized  by  treaty. 


NINTH  CONGRESS.  219 

"  To  a  government  having  interests  distinct  from  those  of  its  peo 
ple,  and  disregarding  its  welfare,  here  is  ample  cause  for  a  declaration 
of  war,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  such — did  they  obey 
the  impulse  of  their  feelings  alone — is  the  course  which  the  commit 
tee  would  not  hesitate  to  recommend.  But,  to  a  government  identi 
fied  with  its  citizens,  too  far  removed  from  the  powerful  nations  of 
the  earth  for  its  safety  to  be  endangered  by  their  hostility,  peace 
must  always  be  desirable,  so  long  as  it  is  compatible  with  the  honor 
and  interest  of  the  community.  Whilst  the  United  States  continue 
burdened  with  a  debt  which  annually  absorbs  two-thirds  of  their  rev 
enue,  and  duties  upon  imports  constitute  the  only  resource,  from 
which  that  revenue  can  be  raised,  without  resorting  to  systems  ;f  tax 
ation  not  more  ruinous  and  oppressive  than  they  are  uncertain  and 
precarious — the  best  interests  of  the  United  States  cry  aloud  for 
peace.  *  When  that  debt  shall  have  been  discharged,  and  the  resour 
ces  of  the  nation  thereby  liberated,  then  may  we  rationally  expect  to 
raise,  even  in  time  of  war,  the  supplies  which  our  frugal  institutions 
require,  without  recurring  to  the  hateful  and  destructive  expedient  of 
loans ;  then,  and  not  till  then,  may  we  bid  defiance  to  the  world.  The 
present  moment  is  peculiarly  auspicious  for  the  great  and  desirable 
work.  Now,  if  ever,  the  national  debt  is  to  be  paid,  by  such  financial 
arrangements  as  will  accelerate  its  extinguishment,  by  reaping  the 
rich  harvest  of  neutrality,  and  thus  providing  for  that  diminution  of 
revenue  which  experience  teaches  to  expect  on  the  general  pacifica 
tion  of  Europe.  And  the  committee  indulge  a  hope,  that  in  the 
changed  aspect  of  affairs  in  that  quarter,  Spain  will  find  motives  for 
a  just  fulfilment  of  her  stipulations  with  us.  and  an  amicable  settle 
ment  of  limits,  upon  terms  not  more  beneficial  to  the  United  States 
than  advantageous  to  herself ;  securing  to  her  an  ample  barrier  on  the 
side  of  Mexico,  and  to  us  the  countries  watered  by  the  Mississippi, 
and  to  the  eastward  of  it.  But  whilst  the  committee  perceive,  in  the 
general  uproar  of  Europe,  a  state  of  things  peculiarly  favorable  to 
the  peaceable  pursuit  of  our  best  interests,  they  are  neither  insensi 
ble  to  the  indignity  which  has  been  offered  on  the  part  of  Spain,  nor 
unwilling  to  repel  similar  outrages.  On  the  subject  of  self-defence, 
when  the  territory  of  the  United  States  is  insulted,  there  can  be  but 
one  opinion,  whatever  differences  may  exist  on  the  question  whether 
that  protection,  which  a  vessel  finds  in  our  harbors,  shall  be  extended 


220  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

to  her  by  the  nation  in  the  Indian  or  Chinese  seas.  Under  this  im 
pression  the  committee  submit  the  following  resolution :  That  such 
number  of  troops  (not  exceeding )  as  the  President  of  the  Uni 
ted  States  shall  deem  sufficient  to  protect  the  southern  frontier  of  the 
United  States  from  Spanish  inroad  and  insult,  and  to  chastise  the 
same,  be  immediately  raised.1' 

Mr.  Randolph  explained,  that  the  peculiar  situation  of  the  frontier 
at  that  time  insulted,  had  alone  induced  the  committee  to  recommend 
the  raising  of  regular  troops.  It  was  too  remote  from  the  population 
of  the  country  for  the  militia  to  act,  in  repelling  and  chastising  Span 
ish  incursion.  New  Orleans  and  its  dependencies  were  separated  by 
a  vast  extent  of  wilderness  from  the  settlements  of  the  United  States  ; 
filled  with  disloyal  and  turbulent  people,  alien  to  our  institutions, 
language,  and  manners,  and  disaffected  toward  our  government.  Lit 
tle  reliance  could  be  placed  upon  them ;  and  it  was  plain  that  if  "  it 
was  the  intention  of  Spain  to  advance  on  our  possessions  until  she 
should  be  repulsed  by  an  opposing  force,"  that  force  must  be  a  regu 
lar  army,  unless  we  were  disposed  to  abandon  all  the  country  south 
of  Tennessee  •  that  if  the  "  protection  of  our  citizens  and  the  spirit 
and  the  honor  of  our  country  required  that  force  should  be  inter 
posed,"  nothing  remained  but  for  the  legislature  to  grant  the  only 
practicable  means,  or  to  shrink  from  the  most  sacred  of  all  its  duties, 
to  abandon  the  soil  and  its  inhabitants  to  the  tender  mercy  of  hostile 
invaders. 

Such  were  the  proposition  and  the  views  of  the  committee,  in  ex 
act  correspondence,  as  they  conceived,  with  the  wishes  of  the  Presi 
dent  as  expressed  in  his  public  and  secret  message. 

Yet  the  report  of  the  committee,  moderate  as  it  might  seem,  was 
deemed  of  too  strong  a  character  by  the  House.  It  was  rejected.  A 
proposition,  the  avowed  object  of  which  was,  to  enable  the  President 
to  open  a  negotiation  for  Florida,  was  moved  as  a  substitute,  by  Mr. 
Bidwell  of  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Randolph  moved  that  the  sum  to 
be  appropriated  should  be  confined  to  that  object ;  which  was  agreed 
to.  But  afterwards,  when  the  bill  was  formally  brought  in,  this  spe 
cific  appropriation  was  rescinded  by  the  House,  and  the  money  left 
at  the  entire  discretion  of  the  Executive,  to  be  used  "  toward  any  ex 
traordinary  expense  which  might  be  incurred  in  the  intercourse  be- 
tween  the  United  States  and  foreign  nations." 


NINTH  CONGRESS.  221 

Mr.  Randolph  also  moved  to  limit  the  amount  which  the  Govern 
ment  might  stipulate  to  pay  for  the  territory  in  question ;  upon  the 
ground  that  if  Congress  were  disposed  to  acquire  Florida  by  pur 
chase,  they  should  fix  the  extent  to  which  they  were  willing  to  go, 
and  thereby  furnish  our  ministers  with  a  safeguard  against  the  rapa 
city  of  France ;  that  there  was  no  probability  of  our  obtaining  the 
country  for  less,  but  every  reason  to  believe  that  without  such  a  pre 
caution  on  our  part,  she  would  extort  more.  This  motion  was  over 
ruled. 

When  the  bill  came  under  discussion,  various  objections  were 
urged  against  it  by  the  same  gentleman ;  among  others,  that  it  was 
in  direct  opposition  to  the  views  of  the  Executive,  as  expressed  in  the 
President's  official  communication  (it  was  on  this  occasion  that  Gene- 
ml  Varnum  declared  the  measure  to  be  consonant  to  the  secret 
wishes  of  the  Executive) ;  that  it  was  a  prostration  of  the  national 
honor  at  the  feet  of  our  adversary ;  that  a  concession  so  humiliating 
would  paralyze  our  efforts  against  Great  Britain,  in  case  the  nego- 
tion  then  pending  between  that  government  and  ours,  should 
prove  abortive ;  that  a  partial  appropriation  towards  the  purchase  of 
Florida,  without  limiting  the  President  to  some  specific  amount, 
would  give  a  previous  sanction  to  any  expense  which  he  might  incur 
for  that  object,  and  which  Congress  would  stand  pledged  to  make 
good ;  that  if  the  Executive,  acting  entirely  upon  its  own  responsi 
bility,  and  exercising  its  acknowledged  constitutional  powers,  should 
negotiate  for  the  purchase  of  Florida,  the  House  of  Representatives 
would,  in  that  case,  be  left  free  to  ratify  or  annul  the  contract ;  but 
that  the  course  which  was  proposed  to  be  pursued  (and  which  eventu 
ally  was  pursued),  would  reduce  the  discretion  of  the  legislature  to  a 
mere  shadow  ;  that  at  the  ensuing  session  Congress  would  find  itself, 
in  relation  to  this  subject,  a  deliberative  body  but  in  name ;  that  it 
could  not,  without  a  manifest  dereliction  of  its  own  principles,  and, 
perhaps,  without  a  violation  of  public  faith,  refuse  to  sanction  any 
treaty  entered  into  by  the  Executive,  under  the  auspices  of  the  legis 
lature,  and  with  powers  so  unlimited  ;  that,  however  great  his  confi 
dence  in  the  Chief  Magistrate,  he  would  never  consent  to  give  any 
President  so  dangerous  a  proof  of  it ;  and  that  he  never  would  pre 
clude  himself,  by  any  previous  sanction,  from  the  unbiassed  exercise 
of  his  judgment  on  measures  which  were  thereafter  to  come  before 


222  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

him ;  that  the  House  had  no  official  recommendation  for  the  step 
which  they  proposed  to  take  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  was  in  direct  op 
position  to  the  sentiments  as  expressed  in  the  confidential  message ; 
and  that  the  responsibility  would  be  exclusively  their  own  ;  that  if 
he  thought  proper  to  ask  for  an  appropriation  for  the  object  (the  pur 
chase  of  Florida),  the  responsibility  of  the  measure  would  rest  on 
him  ;  but  when  the  legislature  undertook  to  prescribe  the  course 
which  he  should  pursue,  and  which  he  had  pledged  himself  to  pur 
sue,  the  case  was  entirely  changed ;  that  the  House  could  have  no 
channel  through  which  it  could  be  made  acquainted  with  the  opinions 
of  the  Executive,  but  such  as  was  official,  responsible,  and  known  to 
the  Constitution  ;  and  that  it  was  a  prostitution  of  its  high  and 
solemn  functions,  to  act  upon  an  unconstitutional  suggestion  of  the 
private  wishes  of  the  Executive,  irresponsibly  announced  by  an 
irresponsible  individual,  and  in  direct  hostility  to  his  avowed 
opinions. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  these  proce  dings  and  discussions 
took  place  in  conclave,  on  the  President's  confidential  message.  Mr. 
Randolph's  course  was  so  grossly  misrepresented,  and  his  motives  so 
basely  calumniated,  that,  at  a  subsequent  period  of  the  session,  he 
moved  the  House  to  take  off  the  injunction  of  secrecy  from  the  Presi 
dent's  communication,  that  the  world  might  see  what  the  Executive 
had  really  required  at  the  hands  of  the  legislature,  and  how  far  they 
had  complied  with  his  publicly  expressed  wishes,  in  the  report  and 
resolution  of  the  committee. 

The  secret  journal  of  the  House  had  been  published  ;  but,  for 
some  reason  unaccountable  to  us,  the  message,  which  was  the  founda 
tion  of  the  whole  proceeding,  and  without  which  the  journal  was 
wholly  unintelligible,  had  been  withheld  from  the  public.  Mr.  Ran 
dolph's  motion  was,  to  publish  the  message  and  the  documents — he 
was  willing  to  abide  the  decision  of  an  impartial  judgment  on  the 
perusal.  This  motion  gave  rise  to  much  debate  and  angry  recrimi 
nation.  Mr.  Randolph  said : 

"  It  is  not  my  wish,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  trespass  on  the  patience  of  the 
House.  But  I  think  it  necessary  to  explain  what  I  am  sure  the 
House  has  not  well  understood  ;  for  my  positions  have  been  grossly 
perverted,  whether  intentionally  or  not  I  will  not  undertake  to  say. 
Grontlemen  opposed  to  us  act  a  very  strange  and  inconsistent  part. 


NINTH  CONGRESS.  223 

They  will  not  give  credit  to  a  private  individual  as  to  a  conversation 
had  with  him.  I  only  stated  that  conversation  as  a  reason  for  say 
ing  I  had  withdrawn  my  confidence.  And  will  gentlemen  say  I  am 
bound,  when  evidence  has  come  to  my  private  knowledge  which  is 
sufficient  to  damn  any  man,  to  legislate  on  a  principle  of  confidence  ? 
When  I  find  misrepresentations  made  to  the  public,  and  insinuations 
of  the  most  despicable  kind  on  this  floor,  I  come  out,  and  call  on 
any  man  to  deny  what  I  have  stated.  They  cannot — they  dare  not. 
For  I  take  it  for  granted  no  man  will  declare  in  the  face  of  the  nation 
a  wilful  falsehood.  But  while  gentlemen  will  not  give  credit  to  what 
has  fallen  from  one  individual,  they  have  no  hesitation  in  giving 
credit  to  an  individual  member  for  the  whole  course  of  the  Gov 
ernment. 

"  In  my  opinion  it  is  of  the  first  importance  that  the  message  should 
be  published,  from  a  material  fact  which  took  place  in  this  House. 
A  member  in  his  place  told  you,  that  the  course  recommended  by  a 
particular  individual  was  consonant  with  the  secret  wishes  of  the 
Executive.  I  did  then  reprehend  that  language  as  the  most  unconsti 
tutional  and  reprehensible  ever  uttered  on  this  floor.  I  did  believe 
that  the  people  of  the  United  States  possessed  as  free  a  Constitution 
as  the  British  people,  and  I  had  hoped  freer  ;  and  I  knew  that  such 
language  had  in  the  British  Parliament  been  considered  as  repre 
hensible,  and  had  brought  forward  a  vote  of  indignation  in  that  body. 
I  allude  to  the  case,  where  the  King's  name  was  used  for  the  pur 
pose  of  throwing  out  Mr.  Fox's  India  bill.  I  then  reprobated  this 
back-stair  influence,  this  double  dealing,  the  sending  one  message 
for  the  journals  and  newspapers,  and  another  in  whispers  to  this 
House.  I  shall  always  reprobate  such  language,  and  consider  it 
unworthy  of  any  man  holding  a  seat  in  this  House.  I  had  before 
always  flattered  myself,  that  it  would  be  a  thousand  years  hence 
before  our  institutions  would  have  given  birth  to  these  Charles  Jen- 
kinson's  in  politics.  I  did  not  expect  them  at  this  time  of  day,  and 
I  now  declare  it  important,  in  my  opinion,  that  the  message  should 
be  published,  that  the  public  may  be  enabled  to  compare  the  official 
with  the  unofficial  message  which  decided  the  vote. 

"  There  is  another  reason  for  its  publication.  The  gentleman 
from  Pennsylvania  has  said  there  is  no  mention  of  France  on  the 
journals ;  and  that  we  have  no  cause  of  complaint  against  France. 


224  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

I  wish  the  publication  of  the  message  to  proye  what  causes  of  com 
plaint  we  have  against  France.  Let  men  of  sense  take  a  view  of  all 
the  papers,  and  I  am  willing  to  abide  the  issue.  It  is  said  France 
has  done  us  no  injury — that  the  bubble  is  burst.  We  are  told  that 
this  is  a  plain  answer  to  all  the  speeches  made  on  this  floor.  Permit 
me  to  say,  the  gentleman  (Mr.  Epps)  has  given  a  plain  answer  to  all 
the  speeches  delivered  on  this  floor  ;  it  was  impossible  to  have  given 
a  plainer  answer  to  them.  He  says,  I  will  vote  with  you,  but  I  will 
make  a  speech  against  you.  Permit  me  to  say,  this  is  the  first  time  I 
would  not  rather  have  had  his  vote  than  his  speech.  After  this 
speech  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  issue  of  the  question.  I  will 
go  further,  after  the  adjournment  on  Saturday  there  could  be  no 
doubt.  Saturday,  it  seems,  is  an  unfortunate  day,  on  which  no  expe 
dition  is  to  be  undertaken,  no  forlorn  hope  conducted. 

"  The  same  gentleman  has  said  that  we  pursued  precisely  the 
same  course  in  1803  as  in  1806,  and  for  obtaining  the  same  object. 
He  says  the  same  course  is  now  pursued,  and  yet  he  says  he  will  not 
undertake  to  say  the  cases  are  not  dissimilar ;  put  this  and  that 
together,  and  what  do  you  make  of  it  ?  The  cases  are  decidedly  dis 
similar.  In  1803  there  was  no  existing  misunderstanding  between 
the  American  and  French  governments  with  regard  to  our  differences 
with  Spain.  Those  differences  have  started  up  like  a  mushroom  in 
the  night.  We  made  an  appropriation  to  purchase  the  Floridas — 
to  buy  them — from  whom?  From  their  rightful  owner.  The  circum 
stances  would  have  been  similar,  if  the  United  States  had  given 
money  to  France  to  compel  Spain  to  form  a  treaty  with  us ;  then  the 
national  honor  would  have  received  a  deadly  wound.  But  there  was 
nothing  of  this  sort  in  the  formation  of  the  treaty  then  made.  Spain, 
under  the  operation  of  causes  in  which  we  had  no  agency,  transferred 
Louisiana  to  France,  and  France  transferred  it  to  us.  But  this  is 
not  now  the  case.  We  are  told  that  Spain  is  no  longer  an  indepen 
dent  power,  but  is  under  the  control  of  France.  What  follows?  That 
France  is  an  aggressor  on  us,  which  proves  every  thing  I  have 
alleged. 

«  There  is  another  thing  to  be  observed.  The  public  have  been 
given  to  understand,  that  two  millions  have  been  appropriated  for 
the  purchase  of  the  Floridas.  This  is  not  so.  The  appropriation  is 
only  towards  doing  something ;  but  what  that  is,  is  not  defined  by  law. 


NINTH  CONGRESS.  225 

Now  if  in  1803  we  appropriated  two  millions  for  the  purchase  of  the 
Floridas,  and  did  not  get  them,  what  security  is  there  now  that  by 
making  an  appropriation  in  the  same  language,  we  shall  obtain  them? 
Although  the  persons  making  the  appropriation  are  not  the  same 
identical  beings,  those  applying  the  sum  appropriated  are.  I  do  not 
believe  that  we  shall  get  the  Floridas.  In  this  I  may  be  mistaken : 
I  hope  I  shall  be ;  for  after  having  descended  to  prostitute  the 
national  character,  let  us  at  least  receive  the  wages  of  iniquity. 

"  But  gentlemen  inquire,  will  you  become  the  guardians  of  Spain  ? 
This  is  a  mistake  which  has  run  through  every  attempt  at  argument 
I  have  heard.  We  never  professed  to  be  the  guardians  of  Spain. 
We  profess  to  be  the  guardians  of  our  own  honor.  We  care  not  for 
France  trampling  on  Spain.  Let  her  pick  her  pockets,  for  what  we 
care  5  but  if  we  instigate  her  to  it,  it  is  no  longer  a  mere  question 
between  France  and  Spain,  but  a  question  in  which  our  own  honor  is 
engaged,  which  is  at  once  mortgaged  and  gone. 

"  Until  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  got  up,  I  confess  that,  what 
with  my  exhausted  state,  the  badness  of  the  air,  and  the  tenuity  of 
the  arguments  of  gentlemen,  so  excessively  light  that  they  at  once 
vanished  into  thin  air,  that  I  had  not  a  word  to  say ;  for  it  is  not  to 
be  supposed  that  I  intended  to  reply  to  any  thing  offered  by  the 
gentleman  behind  me.  If  I  am  to  fall,  let  me  fall  in  the  face  of  day, 
and  not  be  betrayed  by  a  kiss, — I  mean  no  profane  allusion.  I  shall 
do  my  duty  as  an  honest  man.  I  came  here  prepared  to  co-operate 
with  the  government  in  all  its  measures.  I  told  them  so.  But  I 
soon  found  there  was  no  choice  left,  and  that  to  co-operate  in  them 
would  be  to  destroy  the  national  character.  I  found  I  might  co-ope 
rate,  or  be  an  honest  man  ;  I  have  therefore  opposed,  and  will  oppose 
them.  Is  there  an  honest  man  disposed  to  be  the  go-between,  to 
carry  down  secret  messages  to  this  House?  No.  It  is  because  men 
of  character  cannot  be  found  to  do  this  business,  that  agents  must  be 
got  to  carry  things  into  effect,  which  men  of  uncompromited  character 
will  not  soil  their  fingers,  or  sully  their  characters  with. 

"  One  word  on  the  subject  of  voting  on  unofficial  notice,  on  the  re 
presentations  of  individuals,  in  the  place  of  communications  officially 
received  from  the  officers  of  the  executive  department.  I  have  al 
ways  considered  the  Executive,  in  this  country,  as  atanding  in  the 
same  relation  to  the  two  Houses,  that  the  minister  or  administration 

VOL.  i.  10* 


226  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

bore  to  the  legislature  under  governments  similar  to  our  own.  I 
have  always  considered  that  the  responsibility  for  public  measures, 
rested  more  particularly  on  them.  For  those  measures  they  are  an 
swerable  to  the  people — and  to  me  it  has  been  a  subject  of  peculiar 
regret  (I  do  not  speak  of  the  general  character  of  the  Constitution) 
that  they  have  not  a  seat  on  this  floor.  For  whatever  may  be  sup 
posed  to  be  my  feelings,  as  to  the  members  of  the  administration,  I 
am  ashamed  when  I  see  their  fame  and  character  committed  to  such 
hands  as  we  are  in  the  daily  habit  of  witnessing.  If  their  measures 
are  susceptible  of  justification.  I  should  like  to  have  .a  justification  at 
their  own  hands,  instead  of  hearing  Yazoo  men  defend  them.  Much 
less  did  I  expect,  on  such  an  occasion,  to  hear  a  Yazoo  man,  assign 
ing  his  motives  for  a  vote,  on  a  totally  different  subject,  and  this  in 
justification  of  a  man  with  whom  he  is  connected  by  ties  of  con 
sanguinity.  This  reminds  me  of  the  intention  imputed  to  me,  to 
bring  forward  an  impeachment  against  a  great  officer  of  state.  This, 
however,  is  so  far  from  being  the  truth,  that  I  appeal  to  those  who 
heard  me,  whether  I  did  not  declare  that  I  washed  my  hands  of  im 
peachments — that  I  was  done  with  them.  No,  I  will  neither  di 
rectly,  nor  indirectly,  have  any  thing  to  do  with  them.  But  I  will 
in  all  questions  that  shall  come  before  this  House,  discuss  the  public 
character  and  conduct  of  any  public  agents  from  a  secretary  to  a 
constable  :  and  I  will  continue  to  do  it,  until  it  shall  be  admitted  by 
the  Constitution  that  the  king  can  do  no  wrong.  I  say  I  wish  the 
heads  of  departments  had  seats  on  this  floor.  Were  this  the  case, 
to  one  of  them  I  would  immediately  propound  this  question :  Did 
you,  or  did  you  not,  in  your  capacity  of  a  public  functionary,  tell 
me,  in  my  capacity  of  a  public  functionary,  that  France  would  not 
suffer  Spain  to  settle  her  differences  with  us,  that  she  wanted  money, 
that  we  must  give  her  money,  or  take  a  Spanish  or  French  war  ? 
And  did  not  I  answer,  that  I  was  neither  for  a  war  with  Spain  or 
France,  but  in  favor  of  defending  my  country  ?  I  would  put  that 
question  to  him.  I  would  put  this  question  to  another  head  of  de 
partment  :  Was.  or  was  not,  an  application  made  to  you  for  money, 
to  be  conveyed  to  Europe  to  carry  on  any  species  of  diplomatic  ne 
gotiation  there  ?  I  would  listen  to  his  answer,  and  if  he  put  his 
hand  on  his  heart,  and  like  a  man  of  honor  said  no,  I  would  believe 
him,  though  it  would  require  a  great  stretch  of  credulity.  I  would 


NINTH  CONGRESS.  227 

call  into  my  aid  faith,  not  reason,  and  believe  when  I  was  not  con 
vinced.  I  would  then  turn  to  the  first  magistrate  of  the  nation  and 
say :  Did  you  not  buy  Louisiana  of  France  ?  Has  France  acted  in 
that  transaction  in  a  bona  fide  manner  ?  Has  she  delivered  into  your 
possession  the  country  you  believed  you  had  bought  from  her  ?  Has 
she  not  equivocated,  prevaricated,  and  played  off  Spain  against  you, 
with  a  view  of  extorting  money  ?  I  will  answer  for  the  reply.  There 
cannot  be  the  smallest  doubt  about  it.  I  will  put  the  whole  business 
on  this  issue.  All  the  difficulty  has  arisen  from  that  quarter. 

"  Yes,  the  bubble  has  burst  !  It  is  immaterial  to  us,  whether  you 
publish  the  President's  message  or  not.  But  it  is  material  to  others 
that  you  should ;  and  let  me  add,  the  public  will  not  rest  satisfied 
with  the  conduct  of  those,  who  profess  to  wish  it  published,  while 
they  vote  against  the  publication.  The  public  will  not  confide  in 
such  professions.  G-entlemen  may  show  their  bunch  of  rods,  may 
treat  them  as  children,  and  offer  them  sugar-plums  ;  but  all  will  not 
avail  them,  so  long  as  they  refuse  to  call  for  the  dispatches  of  our 
ministers,  and  other  documents,  which  if  published  would  fix  a  stain 
upon  some  men  in  the  government,  and  high  in  office,  which  all  the 
waters  in  the  ocean  would  not  wash  out.  Gentlemen  may  talk  about 
our  changing  and  chopping  about,  and  all  that.  What  is  the  fact  ? 
We  are  what  we  profess  to  be — not  courtiers,  but  republicans,  acting 
on  the  broad  principles  we  have  heretofore  professed — applying  the 
same  scale  with  which  we  measured  John  Adams  to  the  present  ad 
ministration.  Do  gentlemen  flinch  from  this  and  pretend  to  be  re 
publicans  ?  They  cannot  be  republicans,  unless  they  agree  that  it 
shall  be  measured  to  them  as  they  measured  to  others.  But  we  are 
perhaps  to  be  told,  that  we  all  have  become  federalists — or  that  the 
federalists  have  become  good  republicans.  This,  however,  is  a  charge 
which,  I  am  convinced,  the  federalists  will  not  be  more  anxious  to 
repel  than  we  to  be  exonerated  from.  No,  they  will  never  become 
good  republicans.  They  never  did,  they  never  will  act  with  us. 
What  has  happened  1  they  are  in  opposition  from  system,  and  we 
quo  ad  hoc,  as  to  this  particular  measure.  Like  men  who  have 
roughed  it  together,  there  is  a  kind  of  fellow-feeling  between  us. 
There  is  no  doubt  of  it.  But  as  to  political  principle,  we  are  as 
much  as  ever  opposed.  There  is  a  most  excellent  alkali  by  which 
to  test  our  principles.  The  Yazoo  business  is  the  beginning  and  the 


228  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

end,  the  alpha  and  omega  of  our  alphabet.  With  that  our  differ 
ences  began,  and  with  that  they  will  end  ;  and  I  pray  to  God  that 
the  liberties  of  the  people  may  not  also  end  with  them. 

"  When  the  veracity  of  a  man  is  called  in  question  it  is  a  serious 
business.  The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  has  appealed  to  the 
House  for  the  correctness  of  his  statement.  I,  too,  appeal  to  the 
House  whether  this  was  not  his  expression,  when  he  undertook  to 
explain  away  what  he  had  said,  for  he  did  not  deny  it :  "  That  he 
would  vouch  that  such  were  the  secret  wishes  of  the  President ;"  and 
whether  I  did  not  observe  that  his  attempt  to  explain  was  like  Judge 
Chase  attempting  to  draw  back  a  prejudicated  opinion  in  the  case  of 
Fries ;  that  he  might  take  back  the  words,  but  not  the  effect  they 
had  made  on  the  Assembly ;  that  the  Constitution  knows  only  of  two 
ways  by  which  the  Executive  could  influence  the  Legislature :  the 
one  by  a  recommendation  of  such  measures  as  he  deemed  expedient ; 
the  other,  by  a  negative  on  our  bills ;  and  that  the  moment  it  was 
attempted  to  influence  the  House  by  whispers  and  private  messages 
its  independence  was  gone.  I  stated  the  proneness  of  legislative 
bodies  to  be  governed  by  Executive  influence,  and,  in  illustration, 
referred  to  the  Senate,  who,  from  its  association  with  the  Executive 
and  the  length  of  time  for  which  its  members  hold  their  seats,  was 
necessarily  made  up  of  gaping  expectants  of  office,  and  there  can  be 
no  doubt  of  the  fact.  It  must  be  so  from  the  nature  of  things.  Now, 
if  it  be  necessary,  let  the  House  appoint  a  Committee  of  Inquiry  to 
ascertain  what  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  did  say,  and  let 
us  see  who  can  adduce  the  most  witnesses  and  swear  the  hardest. 
No,  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  had  on  that  occasion  so  dif 
ferent  a  countenance,  dress  and  address,  that  I  could  not  now  recog 
nize  him  for  the  same  man.  He  seemed  thunderstruck  and  to  be  in 
a  state  of  stupefaction  at  his  indiscretion.  He  appeared  humbled 
in  the  presence  of  those  who  heard  what  he  had  said,  and  beheld  his 
countenance.  His  words  were  these,  my  life  on  it :  'I  will  vouch 
that  such  are  the  secret  wishes  of  the  President,  or  the  Executive,' 
I  do  not  know  which." 


DIFFICULTIES  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.  229 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

DIFFICULTIES   WITH    GREAT  BRITAIN. 

THE  aggressions  of  Great  Britain  on  the  persons,  the  property,  and 
the  rights  of  American  citizens  began  at  an  early  period,  and  were 
still  continued  with  increased  aggravation.  It  was  high  time  for  some 
firm  stand  to  be  taken  in  regard  to  them.  The  peace,  prosperity, 
and  honor  of  the  country  demanded  an  effectual  system  of  measures 
to  arrest  them.  Officers  of  the  British  navy  had  long  been  in  the 
habit  of  boarding  American  vessels,  dragging  seamen  thence,  and 
forcing  them  into  their  own  service  under  the  pretext  that  they  were 
British  subjects.  The  law  of  England  did  not  recognize  the  right  of 
expatriation.  The  sovereign  claimed  the  services  of  all  his  subjects 
in  time  of  war,  and  impressed  them  wherever  they  could  be  found. 
The  similarity  of  language,  of  person,  and  of  habits,  made  it  difficult 
to  distinguish  an  American  from  an  English  sailor.  Many  of  the 
latter  had  taken  refuge  from  their  own  hard  naval  service  in  the  pro 
fitable  commercial  marine  of  the  United  States.  In  re-capturing 
their  own  subjects,  they  not  unfrequently  dragged  American  citizens 
from  their  homes.  They  were  charged  with  not  being  very  scrupu 
lous  in  this  regard.  Not  less  than  three  thousand  American  sailors, 
it  was  said,  had  been  forced  to  serve  in  the  British  navy.  The  go 
vernment  of  the  United  States  denied  the  right  of  Great  Britain  to 
impress  seamen  on  board  any  of  their  vessels  on  the  high  seas,  or 
within  their  own  jurisdiction.  They  contended  that  a  neutral  flag 
on  the  high  seas  was  a  safeguard  to  those  sailing  under  it.  They  were 
sustained  in  this  doctrine  by  the  law  of  nations. 

Although  Great  Britain  had  not  adopted  in  the  same  latitude  with 
most  other  nations  the  immunities  of  a  neutral  flag,  yet  she  did  not 
deny  the  general  freedom  of  the  high  seas,  and  of  neutral  vessels 
navigating  them,  with  such  exceptions  only  as  are  annexed  to  it  by 
the  law  of  nations.  The  exceptions  are  objects  commonly  denomi 
nated  contraband  of  war ;  that  is,  enemies  serving  in  the  war,  arti 
cles  going  into  a  blockaded  port,  and  enemy's  property  of  every  kind. 
But  nowhere,  it  was  contended,  could  an  exception  to  the  freedom 
of  the  seas  and  of  neutral  flags  be  found  that  justified  the  taking 


230  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

away  of  any  person,  not  an  enemy  in  military  service,  found  on  board 
a  neutral  vessel. 

The  right  of  impressment,  growing  out  of  their  different  interpre* 
tation  of  the  law  of  nations,  was  one,  and  the  gravest,  of  the  subjects 
of  dispute  "between  the  two  nations.  The  other  was  in  regard  to  the 
carrying  trade.  The  question  commonly  presented  itself  in  this 
form :  Was  that  commerce  allowable  in  time  of  war  which  was  pro 
hibited  in  time  of  peace  ?  Great  Britain,  by  her  powerful  marine, 
had  swept  the  ocean  nearly  of  the  whole  of  the  vessels  of  her  ene 
mies.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  produce  of  the  colonies  of  France, 
Spain,  and  Holland,  was  imported  into  the  mother  countries  by  neu 
tral  ships;  in  fact,  it  was  almost  wholly  transported  in  American 
bottoms.  The  restrictive  colonial  system  of  these  powers  did  not 
suffer  this  transportation  by  foreigners  in  times  of  peace ;  but  the 
necessities  arising  from  a  calamitous  naval  war  induced  them  to  lay 
their  ports  open  by  a  forced  liberality  to  this  general  commerce. 
French,  Spanish,  and  Dutch  property  in  American  bottoms  now 
became  neutralized,  and  was  protected,  as  some  contended,  by  the 
American  flag.  But  the  property  was  still  enemy's  property,  and 
fell  within  the  exception  of  the  law  of  nations.  The  French  navy 
had  been  totally  annihilated  ;  in  consequence,  the  products  of  her 
colonies  had  to  lie  rotting  on  their  wharfs,  for  want  of  transportation, 
while  the  mother  country  was  suffering  both  from  the  want  of  the 
products  and  of  the  revenue  arising  from  the  sale  and  consumption 
of  them.  These  were  the  evils  intended  to  be  inflicted  by  a  naval 
victory,  in  order  to  force  her  to  an  honorable  peace.  But  the  United 
States  came  in  with  their  ships,  and  relieved  France  of  these  evils, 
by  becoming  carriers  between  her  and  her  colonies. 

Can  that  be  a  neutral  commerce  which  robs  one  of  the  belligerent 
parties  of  all  the  advantages  of  a  victory,  and  relieves  the  other  from 
nearly  all  the  evils  of  a  defeat  ?  It  can  hardly  seem  possible  at  this 
day  that  any  one  could  have  contended  for  such  a  doctrine  ;  yet  Mr. 
Madison  maintained  that  the  contrary  principle,  denying  the  neutral 
character  of  such  a  commerce,  ivas  of  modern  date — that  it  was 
avowed  by  no  other  nation  than  Great  Britain,  and  that  it  was 
assumed  by  her,  under  the  auspices  of  a  maritime  ascendency,  which 
rendered  such  a  principle  subservie.nt  to  her  particular  interests. 

This  doctrine,  however,  contended  for  by  a  nation  that  had  the 


DIFFICULTIES  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.  231 

power  to  maintain  it,  was  gotten  over  by  subterfuge  and  evasion. 
We  will  illustrate  the  manner  by  an  example.  A  French  subject 
purchases  a  cargo  of  coffee  at  Guadaloupe,  intending  it  for  the  market 
of  Nantes  :  to  ship  it  in  a  vessel  belonging  to  any  one  of  the  nations 
belligerent  with  England,  was  absolutely  throwing  it  away  ;  but  the 
ordinary  device  of  sending  it  under  the  cover  of  an  American  nag  is 
resorted  to  ;  the  American  refuses  to  carry  it  directly  for  the  harbor 
of  Nantes,  alleging,  that  if  he  is  captured  by  an  English  cruiser,  a 
condemnation  must  follow  such  an  attempt  at  an  immediate  com 
merce  between  the  mother  country  and  her  colony.  False  owners 
are  created  for  the  ship's  cargo,  in  the  character  of  Americans.  The 
vessel  instead  of  sailing  for  Nantes,  makes  for  New  York,  and  in  due 
time  arrives  there ;  bonds  for  the  payment  of  duties  are  given,  and 
the  cargo  is  landed.  The  vessel  loads  again  with  the  same  coffee ; 
the  debentures  of  the  custom-house  are  produced ;  the  bonds  for  du 
ties  are  cancelled,  and  she  now  makes  her  way  boldly  for  Nantes,  as 
a  neutral  ship,  not  to  be  molested.  The  entire  trade  of  the  French, 
Spanish  and  Dutch  colonies  was  conducted  in  American  vessels,  in 
this  indirect  way.  A  most  profitable  business  it  was  surely,  but  it  is 
shocking  to  contemplate  the  influence  on  the  moral  character  of  those 
engaged  in  it.  All  this  chicanery  and  duplicity  were  often  forced 
through  by  absolute  perjury — always  by  a  prostration  of  honorable 
delicacy. 

The  British  Courts  of  Admiralty  allowed  this  indirect  trade 
through  a  neutral  port,  where  there  was  proof  of  an  actual  change  of 
ownership.  Whenever  the  neutral  party  could  show  that  he  hud  pur 
chased  the  property,  he  was  suffered  to  pass  unmolested ;  but  such  a 
bonafide  purchase  rarely  took  place  ;  and  enemy's  property  was  cov 
ered  up  and  protected  by  neutral  names,  under  false  pretences. 
Suck  was  the  carrying  trade. 

These  two — the  impressment  of  seamen  and  the  carrying  trade — 
constituted  the  main  difficulties  existing  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain ;  all  others  grew  out  of  them,  and  would  necessa 
rily  cease  on  a  satisfactory  adjustment  of  those  leading  subjects  of 
complaint. 

These  questions  were  involved  in  much  obscurity.  Much  might 
be  said  on  both  sides.  Each  nation  had  just  cause  of  complaint 
against  the  other.  Here  was  a  fair  field  for  negotiation  and  com- 


232  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

promise.  But  we  can  now  perceive  the  secret  motives  that  would  in 
cessantly  throw  obstacles  in  the  way  of  a  satisfactory  arrangement  of 
these  difficulties.  There  was  the  old  grudge  against  England,  cher 
ished  in  the  prejudices  of  the  people  ;  the  jealousy  of  her  superior 
naval  power  on  that  element  where  we  were  as  much  at  home  as  she 
was ;  the  spirit  of  rivalry  that  stimulated  our  merchants  to  share 
with  her  the  commerce  of  the  world ;  the  barren  results  of  any  set 
tlement  of  difficulties  with  her  during  the  wars  in  Europe — it  might 
secure  peace,  but  could  bring  no  profit.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
were  the  old  partialities  for  our  ancient  ally ;  the  fraternizing  spirit 
between  the  two  Republics ;  the  enthusiasm  enkindled  in  a  martial 
people,  by  the  daring  exploits  and  brilliant  successes  of  Napoleon ; 
the  secret  consciousness  that  his  irresistible  power  would  always  be 
interposed  between  them  and  any  hostile  movements  of  England ; 
the  lucrative  commerce,  and  the  absolute  monopoly  of  the  carrying 
trade  between  France,  Spain,  Holland,  and  their  dependencies,  and 
which  must  cease  on  a  compromise  with  England ; — add  to  these 
causes,  that  went  home  to  the  prejudices  and  the  interests  of  the  people, 
the  all-controlling  influence  of  party  spirit — which  had  long  since  at 
tached  to  the  friends  of  England  the  epithet  of  monarchist  and 
tories,  and  to  the  friends  of  France  that  of  republicans  and  friends 
of  the  people — and  we  cannot  fail  to  perceive  that  every  agency 
which  was  calculated  to  give  direction  to  public  opinion  would  bend 
it  against  any  adjustment  of  British  difficulties  during  the  continu 
ance  of  the  wars  in  Europe. 

The  subjects  of  difference  were  ably  discussed  by  the  Secretary 
of  State  in  his  instructions  to  our  minister  at  the  Court  of  St.  James; 
but  when  the  President  thought  proper  to  bring  the  matter  before 
Congress,  and  to  call  on  them  for  action,  he  had  no  plan  to  propose. 
He  did  not  recommend,  as  the  Constitution  required,  any  specific 
mode  of  adjustment.  He  left  the  Legislature  to  grope  their  way  in 
the  dark,  and  to  adopt  such  measures  as  they  might  think  proper, 
without  any  previous  participation  on  his  part  in  the  responsibility. 

Various  crude  and  illy-digested  schemes  were  offered  in  the  House 
and  in  the  Senate.  They  all  seemed  to  contemplate  coercing  Eng 
land  into  measures  by  operating  on  her  commerce.  Gregg's  resolu 
tion — the  one  principally  discussed  in  the  House — went  so  far  as  to 
prohibit  all  intercourse  between  the  two  nations,  until  England 


DIFFICULTIES  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.  233 

would  consent  to  settle  the  subjects  of  dispute  between  them  on  fair 
terms.  This  professed  to  be  a  peace  measure,  but  it  was  actual  war 
in  disguise.  Many  of  its  friends  discussed  it  as  a  war  measure. 
Mr.  Randolph  so  regarded  it.  "  I  am  not  surprised,"  said  he,  "  to 
hear  this  resolution  discussed  by  its  friends  as  a  war  measure.  They 
say,  it  is  true,  that  it  is  not  a  war  measure  ;•  but  they  defend  it  on 
principles  that  would  justify  none  but  war  measures,  and  seemed 
pleased  with  the  idea  that  it  may  prove  the  forerunner  of  war.  If 
war  is  necessary,  if  we  have  reached  this  point,  let  us  have  war.  But 
while  I  have  life,  I  will  never  consent  to  these  incipient  war  meas 
ures,  which  in  their  commencement  breathe  nothing  but  peace,  though 
they  plunge  us  at  last  into  war.  *****  What  is  the  question  in 
dispute?  The  carrying  trade.  What  part  of  it?  The  fair,  the 
honest,  and  the  useful  trade,  that  is  engaged  in  carrying  our  own 
productions  to  foreign  markets  and  bringing  back  their  productions 
in  exchange  ?  No,  sir  j  it  is  that  carrying  trade  which  covers  ene 
my's  property,  and  carries  the  coffee,  the  sugar,  and  other  West  In 
dia  products  to  the  mother  country.  No,  sir ;  if  this  great  agricul 
tural  nation  is  to  be  governed  by  Salem  and  Boston,  New  York  and 
Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore,  and  Norfolk,  and  Charleston,  let  gen 
tlemen  come  out  and  say  so  ;  and  let  a  committee  of  public  safety  be 
appointed  from  these  towns  to  carry  on  the  government.  I,  for  one, 
will  not  mortgage  my  property  and  my  liberty  to  carry  on  this  trade. 
The  nation  said  so  seven  years  ago  ;  I  said  so  then,  I  say  so  now  ;  it 
is  not  for  the  honest  carrying  trade  of  America,  but  for  this  mush 
room,  this  fungus  of  war,  for  a  trade,  which  as  soon  as  the  nations  of 
Europe  are  at  peace  will  no  longer  exist — it  is  for  this  that  the  spirit 
of  avaricious  traffic  would  plunge  us  into  war.  I  am  forcibly  struck 
on  this  occasion  by  the  recollection  of  a  remark,  made  by  one  of  the 
ablest,  if  not  the  honestest,  ministers  England  ever  produced ;  I 
mean  Sir  Robert  Walpole ;  who  said  that  the  country  gentlemen 
(poor,  meek  souls!)  came  up  every  year  to  be  sheared,  that  they 
laid  mute  and  patient  whilst  their  fleeces  were  taking  off,  but  if  he 
touched  a  single  bristle  of  the  commercial  interest  the  whole  stye  was 
in  an  uproar.  It  was,  indeed,  shearing  the  hog — great  cry  and  little 
wool. 

"  What  is  the  fact  ?     Whilst  we  boast  of  our  honor  on  this  floor, 
our  name  has  become  a  by-word  among  the  nations.     Europe,  and 


234  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

Paris  especially  swarms  with  pseudo-Americans,  with  Anglo  and 
Gallo  Americans,  and  American  French  and  English,  who  have 
amassed  immense  fortunes  by  trading  in  the  neutral  character — by 
setting  it  up  to  auction,  and  selling  it  to  the  best  bidder.  Men  of 
this  description — striplings,  without  connections  or  character — have 
been  known  to  buy  rich  vessels  and  their  cargoes,  in  Amsterdam  and 
Antwerp,  and  trade  with  them  under  the  American  name  to  the  In 
dies.  Neutral  character  has  constituted  one  of  the  best  remittances 
for  colonial  produce,  or  the  goods  which  purchase  it  5  and  the  trade 
in  this  commodity  of  neutrality  h£s"produced  a  most  lucrative  branch 
of  traffic.  This  it  is  that  has  sunkHTTcT  degraded  the  American  name 
abroad,  and  subjected  the  fair  trader  to  vexatious  seizure  and  de 
tention. 

"  But  yet,  sir,  I  have  a  more  cogent  reason  against  going  to  war, 
for  the  honor  of  the  flag  in  the  narrow  seas,  or  any  other  maritime 
punctilio.  It  springs  from  my  attachment  to  the  principles  of  the 
Government  under  which  I  live.  I  declare,  in  the  face  of  day,  that 
this  Government  was  not  instituted  for  the  purposes  of  oifensive  war. 
No ;  it  was  framed  (to  use  its  own  language)  for  the  common  defence 
and  general  welfare,  which  are  inconsistent  with  offensive  war.  I 
call  that  offensive  war,  which  goes  out  of  our  jurisdiction  and  limits, 
for  the  attainment  or  protection  of  objects  not  within  those  limits  and 
that  jurisdiction.  As  in  1798,  I  was  opposed  to  this  species  of  war 
fare,  because  I  believed  it  would  raze  the  Constitution  to  its  very 
foundation — so  in  1806,  am.  I  opposed  to  it,  and  on  the  same  grounds. 
No  sooner  do  you  put  the  Constitution  to  this  use — to  a  test  which 
it  is  by  no  means  calculated  to  endure,  than  its  incompetency  to  such 
purposes  becomes  manifest  and  apparent  to  all.  I  fear,  if  you  go 
into  a  foreign  war,  for  a  circuitous,  unfair  foreign  trade,  you  will 
come  out  without  your  Constitution.  Have  you  not  contractors 
enough  in  this  House  ?  or  do  you  want  to  be  overrun  and  devoured 
by  commissaries,  and  all  the  vermin  of  contract  ?  I  fear,  sir,  that 
what  are  called  the  energy  men,  will  rise  up  again — men  who  will 
burn  the  parchment.  We  shall  be  told  that  our  Government  is  too 
free,  or,  as  they  would  say,  weak  and  inefficient — much  virtue,  sir. 
in  terms ;  that  we  must  give  the  President  power  to  call  forth  the 
resources  of  the  nation — that  is,  to  filch  the  last  shilling  from  our 
pockets,  or  to  drain  the  last  drop  of  blood  from  our  veins.  I  am 


DIFFICULTIES  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.  235 

against  giving  this  power  to  any  man,  be  he  who  he  may.  The 
American  people  must  either  withhold  this  power,  or  resign  their 
liberties.  There  is  no  other  alternative.  Nothing  but  the  most  im 
perious  necessity  will  justify  such  a  grant ;  and  is  there  a  powerful 
enemy  at  our  door  ?  You  may  begin  with  a  First  Consul.  From  that 
chrysalis  state  he  soon  becomes  an  emperor.  You  have  your  choice. 
It  depends  upon  your  election  whether  you  will  be  a  free,  happy,  and 
united  people  at  home,  or  the  light  of  your  executive  majesty  shall 
beam  across  the  Atlantic,  in  one  general  blaze  of  the  public  liberty. 

"  But,  sir,  it  seems  that  we,  who  are  opposed  to  this  resolution,  are 
men  of  no  nerve — who  trembled  in  the  days  of  the  British  treaty — 
cowards,  I  suppose,  in  the  reign  of  terror.  Is  this  true  ?  Hunt  up 
the  journals — let  our  actions  tell.  We  pursue  our  old,  unshaken 
course.  We  care  not  for  the  nations  of  Europe,  but  make  foreign 
relations  bend  to  our  political  principles,  and  serve  our  country's 
interests.  We  have  no  wish  to  see  another  Actium,  or  Pharsalia,  or 
the  lieutenants  of  a  modern  Alexander  playing  at  piquet,  or  all-fours, 
for  the  empire  ^of  the  world.  'Tis  poor  comfort  to  us  to  be  told  that 
France  has  too  decided  a  taste  for  luxurious  things  to  meddle  with 
us  ;  that  Egypt  is  her  object,  or  the  coast  of  Barbary,  and,  at  the 
worst,  we  shall  be  the  last  devoured.  We  are  enamored  with 
neither  nation.  We  would  play  their  own  game  upon  them — use 
them  for  our  interest  and  convenience.  But,  with  all  my  abhorrence 
of  the  British  Government,  I  should  not  hesitate  between  Westmin 
ster  Hall  and  a  Middlesex  jury,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  wood  of 
Vincennes  and  a  file  of  grenadiers,  on  the  other.  That  jury  trial 
which  walked  with  Home  Tooke,  and  Hardy  through  the  flames  of 
ministerial  persecution,  is,  I  confess,  more  to  my  taste  than  the  trial 
of  the  Duke  d'Enghein." 

But  we  must  forbear  any  further  quotations  from  Mr.  Randolph's 
speeches  against  Gregg's  resolutions.  There  were  two  of  them,  de 
livered  on  the  5th  and  6th  of  March.  They  were  not  merely  elo 
quent  and  forcible  in  their  expression,  but  display  a  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  our  foreign  relations,  and  a  deep  insight  into  the 
motives  of  men  who  foment  discord  between  nations  that  should 
be  at  peace  with  each  other.  They  are  patriotic  in  their  tone, 
and  show  a  warm  devotion  to  the  Constitution  and  the  Union,  and  a 
profound  comprehension  of  those  principles  which  alone  can  preserve 


236  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

them  in  their  integrity.  While  we  forbear  further  quotation,  we 
feel  constrained  to  give  the  substance  of  Mr.  Randolph's  views  on  the 
questions  therein  discussed. 

This  was  an  important  crisis,  not  only  in  his  own  history,  but  in 
that  of  the  country.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  measures 
that  separated  Mr.  Randolph  from  his  old  political  associations, 
and  that  finally  involved  the  country  in  a  disastrous  war.  The 
party  heats  and  animosities  that  rankled  in  the  bosoms  of  men  at 
that  day  have  all  died  away.  Let  impartial  history  speak  the  truth, 
and  do  justice  to  one  whose  name  has  long  been  calumniated.  We 
shall  give  facts  as  they  are  condensed  from  his  own  speeches,  and 
leave  the  world  to  judge  how  far  he  acted  as  a  zealous  patriot,  an 
honest  man,  and  an  enlightened  statesman. 

It  was  notorious,  says  Mr.  Randolph,  that  in  regard  to  the  course 
to  be  pursued  towards  Great  Britain,  no  opinion  was  expressed  by 
the  members  of  the  Cabinet,  in  their  collective  or  individual  capaci 
ties.  On  the  contrary,  the  President  frequently  declared,  without 
reserve,  that  he  had  no  opinion  on  the  subject.  Similar  declarations 
were  made  by  other  influential  and  leading  persons  presiding  over  the 
executive  departments — and  it  is  a  fact,  that  no  consultation  was  held 
between  them,  from  the  meeting  of  Congress,  on  the  3d  of  Decem 
ber,  till  some  time  in  the  month  of  March.  This  want  of  concert 
and  decision  in  the  administration,  might  easily  have  been  inferred 
(even  if  there  were  no  other  proof  of  it)  from  the  various,  discordant, 
and  undigested  projects  which  were  brought  forward  in  the  legisla 
ture,  and  to  this  want  of  system  must  be  referred  much  of  the  mis 
chief  which  then  resulted  from  this  subject,  as  well  as  the  embarrass 
ment  which  afterwards  ensued. 

Mr.  Randolph  was  of  opinion  that  the  impressment  of  our  sea 
men  furnished  just  cause  for  indignant  resentment  on  our  part ;  but 
he  saw  no  reason  for  pushing  that  matter  to  extremity  at  that  time, 
which  had  not  existed  in  as  full  force,  for  the  last  five  years,  or  even 
twelve  years.  Our  government,  in  consideration  of  the  great  num 
ber  of  British  seamen  in  our  employment,  and  of  the  identity  of  lan 
guage  and  manners  between  that  class  of  their  subjects,  and  the 
same  description  of  our  citizens,  but  above  all,  from  motives  of  sound 
policy  (too  obvious  to  need  recapitulation),  had  hitherto  deemed  it 
expedient  to  temporize  on  this  interesting  and  delicate  topic — he 


DIFFICULTIES  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.  237 

could  see  no  just  ground,  at  present,  for  departing  from  this  sys 
tem — more  especially  pending  an  actual  negotiation  between  the  two 
governments,  on  the  point  in  dispute.  He  was  of  opinion  that  no 
thing  should  be  left  undone  to  accommodate  our  differences  amica 
bly,  and  that  no  step  should  be  taken  which  might  interrupt  or  de 
feat  such  a  settlement — that  even  if  we  should  resort  to  war,  it  must 
eventuate  in  a  treaty  of  peace,  by  which  the  points  in  controversy 
would  be  adjusted,  or  left  in  statu  quo  ante  bellum—and.  tha*  after 
incurring  the  incalculable  mischiefs  of  war,  the  derangement  of  our 
finances  and  the  augmentation  of  the  public  debt,  to  an  extent  which 
could  not  now  be  foreseen ;  to  say  nothing  of  its  baneful  effects  up 
on  our  political  institutions,  and  of  the  danger  which  must  accrue 
from  throwing  our  weight,  at  this  juncture,  into  the  preponderating 
scale  of  Europe  ;  there  was  no  prospect  that  we  should  obtain  better 
terms  at  any  future  pacification,  than  were  attainable  at  present — at 
any  rate,  he  was  disposed  to  give  fair  play  to  a  fair  experiment  at  ne 
gotiation.  But  if  any  active  measures  were  to  be  taken  against 
Great  Britain,  they  should  be  of  the  most  efficient  and  decisive  na 
ture.  He  deprecated  half  measures,  as  the  most  injurious  to  our 
selves  which  could  be  adopted. 

Whilst  the  Bill  was  yet  under  discussion,  the  news  of  the  death 
of  Mr.  Pitt,  and  of  the  consequent  change  of  ministry,  reached  the 
United  States.  No  circumstance  could  have  afforded  a  fairer  or  more 
honorable  pretext,  or  a  more  powerful  motive,  for  suspending  our 
measures  against  Great  Britain,  than  this.  The  late  Premier  was 
known  to  be  decidedly  hostile  to  the  institutions,  the  interests,  and 
the  very  people,  of  America. 

No  administration,  not  even  that  of  Lord  North  himself,  had 
been  or  could  be  more  inimical  to  the  United  States,  than  that  of  Mr. 
Pitt.  His  power,  moreover,  was  connected  with,  and  depended  upon, 
the  continuation  and  duration  of  the  war.  He  was  succeeded  by  Mr. 
Fox,  unquestionably  the  most  liberal  and  enlightened  statesman  of 
Europe  ;  the  man  above  all  others,  beyond  the  Atlantic,  the  best  af 
fected  towards  the  principles  of  our  government,  and  the  illustrious 
character  by  whom  it  was  administered. 

Never  did  a  fairer  occasion  present  itself  to  any  nation  for  chang 
ing,  without  any  imputation  of  versatility,  or  any  loss  of  honor,  the 
course  which  they  had  chosen  to  prescribe  to  themselves.  The  ex- 


238  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

citement  of  public  sentiment,  and  the  measures  consequent  upon  that 
excitement,  might,  fairly  and  honorably,  have  been  referred  to  the 
known  character  of  the  late  Premier,  the  pupil  of  Dundas,  and  the 
disciple  of  Charles  Jenkinson ;  and  the  United  States  might  have 
awaited,  in  a  dignified  and  imposing  inactivity,  the  manifestation  of 
a  different  sentiment  by  the  new  ministry.  But  the  new  leaders  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  were  men  who  soared  above,  or  skim 
med  below,  all  considerations  of  time,  place,  and  circumstance — they 
gloried  in  their  ignorance  of  men  and  things  in  Europe,  and  boasted 
that  their  policy  should  not  be  modified  by  anj  change  in  the  aspect 
of  affairs  at  home,  or  abroad — and  in  the  pursuit  of  an  abstract  me 
taphysical  ignis  fatuus,t\iey  did  not  hesitate  to  embark  the  best  in 
terests  of  the  Union. 

Against  these  measures,  Mr.  Randolph  further  objected,  that  dur 
ing  the  "five  months  which  our  ministers  had  spent  in  fruitless  dis 
cussion  at  Madrid"  it  had  entered  into  the  head  of  nobody  to  sug 
gest  any  proposition  of  a  coercive  nature  in  relation  to  Spain,  and 
that,  even  after  the  total  failure  of  that  negotiation,  no  such  measure 
had  been  proposed — that  Great  Britain  had  indeed  impressed  our 
seamen,  and  advanced  certain  injurious  principles  of  national  law, 
which,  if  carried  into  their  full  extent,  would  materially  affect  our 
commerce ;  but  that  Spain,  after  having  refused  to  make  good  her 
solemn  stipulations  to  compensate  us  for  former  spoliations  commit 
ted  on  our  commerce,  had  "  renewed  the  same  practices  dwing  tlie 
present  war."  She  had  not,  it  was  true,  impressed  our  seamen,  but 
her  cruisers  had  "plundered  and  sunk  our  vessels,  and  maltreated 
and  abandoned  their  crews  in  open  boats,  or  on  desert  shores,  without 
food  or  covering}'1  Her  Courts  of  Admiralty  had,  indeed,  advanced 
no  "new  principles  of  the  law  of  nations,"  but  they  had  confiscated 
our  ships  and  cargoes,  without  the  pretext  of  principles  of  any  sort, 
new  or  old.  She  had,  moreover,  insulted  our  territory,  violated  the 
property  and  the  persons  of  our  citizens,  within  our  acknowledged 
limits,  and  insolently  rejected  every  overture  to  accommodation. 
With  Spain,  all  our  attempts  to  negotiate  had  failed — with  Great 
Britain,  we  had  a  negotiation  actually  pending,  and  which  the  dis 
patches  of  our  minister  at  the  Court  of  London  gave  us  every  rea 
son  to  suppose  would  have  a  prosperous  issue — and  even  admitting, 
for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  our  vote  of  money  to  purchase  Flori- 


DIFFICULTIES  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.  239 

da  was,  in  itself,  no  derogation  from  the  national  honor,  inasmuch  as 
we  proposed  to  receive  a  fair  equivalent  for  it,  yet,  having  refused  to 
take  any  coercive  measures  for  the  unparalleled  indignities  of  Spain, 
who  had  peremptorily  rejected  all  our  propositions  for  pacific  accom 
modation,  how  could  we,  with  any  face  of  impartiality  towards  the 
belligerent  powers,  assume  this  elevated  tone  towards  Great  Britain  1 
Mr.  Randolph  further  declared,  that  the  proposed  measure  was,  in  it 
self,  inefficient  to  every  valuable  purpose — that  its  sole  operation 
would  be  to  pique  the  pride  and  rouse  the  resentment  of  our  adver 
sary,  and  whilst  it  indicated  a  strong  spirit  of  hostility  on  our  part, 
would  afford  her  a  fair  opening  to  strike  the  first  effectual  blow — that 
it  was  indeed  showing  our  teeth,  without,  at  the  same  time,  daring  to 
bite — that  Great  Britain  would  have,  until  the  next  session  of  Oon- 
gress,  ample  time  to  devise  means  for  annoying  us  in  the  most  effective 
manner,  and  that,  meanwhile,  she  might  withdraw  her  property  from 
our  grasp,  and  guard  every  valuable  point  from  our  attack.  He  con 
jured  the  House  not  to  suffer  themselves,  from  the  honest  prejudices 
of  the  revolution,  from  their  ancient  partiality  to  France,  and  their 
well-grounded  antipathy  to  England,  to  be  legislated  into  a  war, 
which  would  involve  the  best  interests  of  their  country. 

Another  strong  objection  to  the  non-importation  bill  arose  from 
its  bearing  the  aspect  (especially  when  taken  in  conjunction  with 
our  recent  conduct  towards  Spain  and  France)  of  a  disposition  on 
our  part  to  aid  the  views  of  the  French  governement  in  cramping 
the  navigation  and  destroying  the  manufactures  of  Great  Britain. 
This  constituted  one  principal  source  of  animosity  between  those 
rival  nations,  and  the  American  government  could  perhaps  take  no 
step  which  would  so  strongly  excite  the  resentment  of  the  British 
ministry.  The  prompt  and  decisive  conduct  of  that  government 
towards  Prussia,  so  soon  as  she  manifested  a  disposition  to  come 
into  the  views  of  France  on  this  subject,  forms  the  best  commentary 
upon  this  opinion,  and  the  sudden  change  in  the  tone  of  Mr.  Fox 
towards  the  United  States  is  no  bad  criterion  of  its  truth. 

When  Mr.  Randolph  declared,  that  if  any  coercive  measures 
were  to  be  pursued  towards  Great  Britain  they  should  be  of  the 
most  energetic  stamp,  and  mentioned  an  embargo  as  that  which  he 
deemed  the  most  efficient  in  the  outset,  he  was  asked  by  some 
*'  why  he  did  not  move  such  a  proposition  ?"  and  they  declared  at 


240  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

the  same  time,  that  if  he  would  bring  forward  the  measure,  they 
would  support  it.  To  this  he  answered :  That  he  wished  to  try  the 
fair  experiment  of  negotiation  in  the  first  instance — that  he  deemed 
it  impolitic,  pending  that  negotiation,  to  take  any  step  that  might 
defeat  it — and  that  it  was  astonishing  to  him,  that  gentlemen  who 
had  remained  entirely  passive  under  the  aggressions  of  Spain,  who 
had  refused  even  to  concur  in  measures  of  self-defence  against  her 
inroads — made  too  after  a  peremptory  rejection  of  every  overture 
to  accommodation,  should  advocate  an  opposite  course  towards 
another  power,  with  whom  we  were  at  that  moment  actually  treating. 

Mr.  Randolph's  powerful  opposition  was  so  far  successful  as  to 
defeat  Gregg's  resolution,  which  contemplated  a  total  suspension  of 
commercial  intercourse  between  the  two  countries.  Another  was 
introduced,  prohibiting  only  certain  enumerated  articles  of  British 
manufacture,  and  passed  by  a  large  majority.  Eighty-seven  re 
publicans  voted  for  these  restrictive  measures,  while  only  eleven 
republicans  and  the  whole  body  of  federalists,  being  but  four  and 
twenty  in  all  voted  against  them. 

The  Act  passed  by  Congress,  it  was  said  by  the  friends  of  it, 
was  the  first  leading  step  in  a  system  of  measures  well  calculated  to 
awaken  England  from  her  delusive  dreams ;  and  that  it  was 
expressly  adopted  as  a  measure  equally  fitted  for  producing  a 
change  in  her  conduct,  or  for  standing  as  a  part  of  our  permanent 
commercial  regulations.  Here  the  reader  will  observe  was  the  be 
ginning  of  those  measures,  which  if  not  designedly,  indirectly  fos 
tered  the  manufactures  of  the  country  (by  prohibiting  importation) 
at  the  expense  of  its  agriculture  and  commerce. 

How  far  this  non-importation  scheme  of  the  Legislature  was 
likely  to  influence  the  minds  of  the  British  Cabinet,  may  be  seen 
from  the  following  extract  taken  from  an  essay  styled  "  Observations 
on  Randolph's  Speech,"  and  written  by  the  most  eminent  British 
writer  of  the  day,  in  immediate  connection  too  with  the  ministry, 
and  well  possessed  of  their  views — no  less  a  personage  than  the  au 
thor  of  "War  in  Disguise,"  a  book  that  took  all  Mr.  Madison's 
learning  and  ability  to  give  a  plausible  answer  to.  The  author  is 
expressly  recommending  to  the  British  minister,  to  send  an  envoy  to 
the  American  Government  to  treat  for  an  adjustment  of  differences. 
He  concludes  thus :  "  The  only  objection  I  can  possibly  imagine  to 


DIFFICULTIES  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.  241 

arise  against  this  expedient  is,  from  the  passing  of  the  limited  non 
importation  bill,  the  fate  of  which  is  yet  unknown,  and  which  is 
represented  as  containing  a  clause,  making  its  operation  depend 
either  on  the  fiat  of  the  executive  government,  or  on  that  of  its 
minister  in  this  country  ;  or,  as  other  accounts  intimate,  on  the  bare 
event  of  our  refusing  immediate  compliance  with  the  demands  of 
the  American  government. 

K  Now  such  a  bill  either  has,  or  has  not  been  passed  by  the  Con 
gress.  In  the  latter  case,  the  difficulty  will  not  arise ;  but  in  the 
former,  I  hesitate  not  to  say,  that  it  makes  your  compliance,  consist 
ently  with  any  regard  to  the  dignity  and  honor  of  this  great  nation, 
absolutely  impossible. 

"  What  !  Is  a  rod  to  be  put  into  the  hands  of  a  foreign  minister, 
to  whip  us  into  submission  ;  and  are  we  broadly  and  coarsely  to 
sell  our  maritime  rights,  for  the  sake  of  passing  off  a  little  haber 
dashery  along  with  them  ! 

"  Are  we  to  make  a  lumping  pennyworth  to  the  buyers  of  our 
leather  wares,  our  felt  and  tin  wares,  and  the  othor  commodities 
enumerated  in  this  insolent  bill,  by  tossing  our  honor,  our  justice, 
and  our  courage  also  into  the  parcel !  !  I  would  not  consent  to 
disparage  even  the  quality  of  our  manufactures,  much  less  of  our 
public  morals,  by  so  shameful  a  bargain. 

a  No,  sir  !  if  Mr.  Monroe  is  indeed  instructed  and  empowered  to 
treat  with  us  in  this  humiliating  style  of  huckstering  diplomacy,  a 
new  reason  arises  for  delay,  and  for  treating  beyond  the  Atlantic. 

"  Let  the  threatened  prohibition  take  place.  Our  hats,  our  shoes, 
and  our  tea-kettles,  must  find  some  other  market  for  a  few  months  ; 
unless  the  American  merchants  should  be  impatient  enough  to  im 
port  them  by  smuggling,  into  that  country,  in  the  mean  time  ;  which, 
I  doubt  not,  they  will,  in  a  more  than  usual  abundance.  Perhaps 
when  our  minister  arrives,  the  advanced  price  of  British  goods,  and 
the  loss  of  the  duties  upon  them,  may  form  an  argument  of  some 
weight  in  our  favor." 


11 


242  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 


CHAPTEK    XXXI. 

CLOSING  SCENE. 

IN  looking  over  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  ninth  Congress, 
who  had  devolved  on  them  the  important  duty  of  giving  the  first  im 
pulse  and  direction  to  the  policy  of  the  country  in  regard  to  foreign 
nations,  at  this  critical  period,  when  the  powers  of  Europe,  not 
content  with  destroying  one  another,  seemed  to  be  aiming  at 
the  commercial  and  political  annihilation  of  this  transatlantic  re 
public  also,  we  are  struck  with  the  very  common  and  unimportant 
characters  of  which  it  was  composed.  There  were,  doubtless,  some 
modest  and  retiring  men,  of  sound  judgment,  who  were  content  to 
give  their  vote  in  silence,  and  to  pass  their  opinions  on  men  and  things 
around  them  without  giving  the  world  the  benefit  of  their  wisdom- 
But  all  those  who  were  most  prominent  in  the  lead  of  affairs,  were 
without  reputation,  without  political  experience  or  information,  the 
mere  hacks  of  a  party,  possessing  none  of  the  qualities  of  head  or 
heart  that  constitute  the  statesman,  filled  at  the  same  time  with  all 
the  narrow  conceptions  and  the  intolerance  of  political  bigotry.  The 
reputation  of  not  one  has  survived  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  The 
world  is  none  the  wiser  for  what  they  have  said  or  done.  Their 
names,  with  all  their  acts,  have  gone  down  to  oblivion.  Such  men 
require  a  head  to  think  for  them ;  without  knowledge,  or  indepen 
dence  of  character,  they  needed  a  leader  to  guide  and  to  instruct  them 
in  their  duty.  Coming  into  office  under  the  auspices  of  Mr.  Jeffer 
son,  his  opinion  was  law  to  their  understanding,  his  will  the  harmo 
nizing  agent  to  all  their  actions.  The  true  character  of  the  repre 
sentative  office,  and  the  delicate  relationship  existing  between  that 
and  the  Executive,  was  beyond  their  conception ;  and  they  made  a 
boast  and  a  virtue  of  their  unbounded  confidence  in  the  source  of  all 
power  and  patronage.  In  the  hands  of  a  virtuous  President,  these 
men  were  the  confiding  representatives  without  question  to  approve 
his  measures  ;  in  the  hands  of  a  corrupt  and  ambitious  aspirant,  they 
would  have  been  the  subtle  tools  to  enregister  his  edicts  of  usur 
pation  or  oppression.  Fortunately  for  the  country,  Mr.  Jefferson 


CLOSING  SCENE.  243 

was  a  pure  patriot  and  an  honest  man  ;  he  seemed  to  have  no  other 
wish  but  the  good  of  his  country.  And,  perhaps,  it  was  a  conscious 
ness  of  this  fact  that  made  his  followers  place  such  implicit  reliance 
on  the  propriety  and  the  wisdom  of  whatever  he  did.  What  is  blind 
fidelity  to  the  leader  of  an  opposition,  will  soon  be  converted  into 
corrupt  adulation  to  the  bountiful  dispenser  of  all  honors  and  re 
wards.  An  honest  coincidence  of  opinion  will  be  the  source  of  alle 
giance  in  the  one  case  ;  but  a  base  affinity  for  the  loaves  and  fishes 
will  be  the  means  of  cohesion  in  the  other.  Corruption  follows  pow 
er  ;  and  the  rapacious  and  the  profligate,  like  sharks  in  the  sea,  are 
sure  to  swim  in  the  wake  of  the  rich  freighted  argosy  of  state. 

The  proceedings  of  Congress,  in  regard  to  our  foreign  relations, 
furnish  a  fruitful  commentary  on  the  facility  with  which  men  will  sur 
render  their  opinions  and  their  consciences  into  the  keeping  of  a 
popular  leader ;  and  the  readiness  with  which  bodies  of  men,  in  a 
corporate  capacity,  will  do  an  act  that  would  disgrace  an  individual 
of  common  respectability.  As  to  these  foreign  affairs,  so  complica 
ted  and  so  critical,  the  President  had  no  plan  to  propose.  On  this 
subject,  above  all  others,  he  had  a  right  to  give  a  direction  to  the  acts 
of  the  legislature  ;  the  treaty-making  power  belonged  to  him  and  to 
the  Senate.  He  did  not  comply  with  the  Constitution ;  he  in 
formed  them  of  the  facts  in  his  possession,  but  did  not  recommend 
what  should  be  done.  He  had  no  well-digested  plan,  on  which  he 
was  willing  to  stake  his  reputation  as  a  statesman ;  but  he  stimula 
ted  the  legislature,  by  an  expression  of  his  secret  wishes,  to  do  those 
things  which  he  was  not  willing  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  re 
commending.  This  was  certainly  degrading  the  representative  body 
to  a  menial  purpose.  But  they  were  wholly  unconscious  of  the  part 
they  were  made  to  act ;  and  when  the  proud  and  independent  spirit 
of  their  leader  rose  in  rebellion,  they  sought  to  hunt  him  down  like 
some  wild  beast  that  had  broken  into  the  quiet  close  of  a  browsing 
herd.  But  in  justice  to  these  men,  it  must  be  conceded,  that  it  was 
not  so  much  the  acts  of  Mr.  Randolph  on  the  Spanish  question  that 
offended  them,  as  the  bitter  and  sarcastic  words  used  by  him  on  all 
occasions  towards  some  of  those  who  professed  to  belong  to  the  same 
party,  and  claimed  to  be  his  political  friends.  It  is  true,  he  did  not 
mince  his  words,  and  in  the  heat  of  debate,  he  spoke  the  plain  truth 
in  strongest  terms.  There  was  no  diplomatic  ambiguity  about  him ; 


244  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

and  often  his  blunt  directness  of  expression  gave  offence  where  it  was 
not  intended.  But  possessing,  as  he  did,  a  keen  insight  into  the  mo 
tives  of  men  ;  having  a  high  sense  of  the  dignity  and  purity  of  the 
representative  character,  and  a  strong  disgust  for  selfishness  and 
grovelling  meanness  in  those  who  should  be  patterns  of  truth  and 
nobleness,  he  was  unsparing  in  his  denunciations  of  men  who,  under 
the  guise  of  republicanism,  had  crept  into  official  places  for  no  other 
purpose  but  to  rob  the  treasury.  And  it  must  be  confessed  that 
there  .were  not  a  few  of  this  class  to  be  found  in  all  the  departments 
of  government.  The  Yazoo  speculation,  Proteus-like,  had  assumed 
every  shape  by  which  it  could  glide  into  the  councils  of  the  nation, 
and  find  favor  in  the  eyes  of  the  people ;  it  was  the  dry-rot  of  the 
body  politic,  that  secretly  consumed  the  very  joints  of  its  massive 
timbers.  A  member  of  the  President's  cabinet,  as  we  already  know, 
was  the  Hercules  on  whose  shoulders  was  upreared  this  vast  fabric 
of  speculation ;  the  boundless  patronage  of  his  office  was  prostituted 
to  his  purposes  ;  and  he  insolently  boasted  of  the  means  that  he 
used  and  the  triumph  he  anticipated  over  the  public  virtue.  There 
were  many  post-office  contractors  in  the  House  of  Representatives ; 
the  evil  had  grown  to  such  an  extent  that  Randolph  moved  an  amend 
ment  to  the  Constitution,  prohibiting  all  contractors  from  holding  a 
seat  on  the  floor  of  Congress.  "  I  have  said,  and  I  repeat  it,"  said 
Mr.  Randolph,  "  that  the  aspect  in  which  this  thing  presents  itself, 
would  alone  determine  me  to  resist  it.  (The  Yazoo  petitioners.)  In 
one  of  the  petitioners  I  behold  an  executive  officer,  who  receives  and 
distributes  a  yearly  revenue  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
yielding  scarcely  any  net  profit  to  the  government — a  patronage 
limited  only  by  the  extent  of  our  country.  Is  this  right  ?  Is  it 
even  decent  ?  Shall  political  power  be  made  the  engine  of  private 
interest  ?  Shall  such  a  suspicion  tarnish  your  proceedings  ?  How 
would  you  receive  a  petition  from  a  President  of  the  United  States, 
if  such  a  case  can  be  supposed  possible  ?  Sir,  I  wish  to  see  the  same 
purity  pervading  every  subordinate  branch  of  administration,  which 
I  am  persuaded  exists  in  its  great  departments.  Shall  persons  hold 
ing  appointments  under  the  great  and  good  man  who  presides  over 
our  counsels,  draw  on  the  rich  fund  of  his  well-earned  reputation,  to 
eke  out  their  flimsy  and  scanty  pretensions  ?  Is  the  relation  in 
which  they  stand  to  him  to  be  made  the  cloak  and  cover  of  their  dark 


CLOSING  SCENE.  245 

designs  ?  To  the  gentleman  from  New- York,  who  takes  fire  at  every 
insinuation  against  his  friend,  I  have  only  to  observe  on  this  subject, 
that  what  I  dare  say,  I  dare  to  justify.  To  the  House  I  will  relate 
an  incident  how  far  I  have  lightly  conceived  or  expressed  an  opinion 
to  the  prejudice  of  any  man.  I  owe  an  apology  to  my  informant  for 
making  public  what  he  certainly  did  not  authorize  me  to  reveal. 
There  is  no  reparation  which  can  be  offered  by  one  gentleman  and 
accepted  by  another  that  I  shall  not  be  ready  to  make  him,  but  I  feel 
myself  already  justified  to  him,  since  he  sees  the  circumstances  under 
which  I  act.  A  few  evenings  since  a  profitable  contract  for  carrying 
the  mail  was  offered  to  a  friend  of  mine,  who  is  a  member  of  this 
House.  You  must  know,  sir,  the  person  so  often  alluded  to,  main 
tains  a  jackal;  fed  not,  as  you  would  suppose,  upon  the  offal  of 
contract,  but  with  the  fairest  pieces  in  the  shambles ;  and  at  night, 
when  honest  men  are  abed,  does  this  obscene  animal  prowl  through 
the  streets  of  this  vast  and  desolate  city,  seeking  whom  he  may  tam 
per  with.  Well,  sir,  when  this  worthy  plenipotentiary  had  made  his 
proposal  in  due  form,  the  independent  man  to  whom  it  was  addressed, 
saw  at  once  its  drift.  l  Tell  your  principal,'  said  he,  '  that  I  will 
take  his  contract,  but  I  shall  vote  against  the  Yazoo  claim,  notwith 
standing.'  Next  day  he  was  told  that  there  had  been  some  misun 
derstanding  of  the  business,  that  he  could  not  have  the  contract,  as 
it  was  previously  bespoken  by  another. 

"  Sir,  I  well  recollect,  when  first  I  had  the  honor  of  a  seat  in  this 
House,  we  were  then  members  of  a  small  minority — a  poor  forlorn 
hope — that  this  very  petitioner  appeared  at  Philadelphia  on  behalf 
of  another  great  land  company  on  Lake  Erie.  He  then  told  us,  as 
an  inducement  to  vote  for  the  Connecticut  reserve  (as  it  was  called)? 
that  if  that  measure  failed,  it  would  ruin  the  republicans  and  the 
cause  in  that  State.  You,  sir,  cannot  have  forgotten  the  reply  he  re 
ceived  :  '  That  we  did  not  understand  the  republicanism  that  was  to 
be  paid  for ;  that  we  feared  it  was  not  of  the  right  sort,  but  spuri 
ous.'  And  having  maintained  our  principles  through  the  ordeal  of 
that  day,  shall  we  now  abandon  them  to  act  with  the  men  and  upon  the 
measures  which  we  then  abjured?  Shall  we  now  condescend  to  means 
which  we  disdained  to  use  in  the  most  desperate  crisis  of  our  polit 
ical  fortunes  ?  This  is  indeed  the  age  of  monstrous  coalitions ;  and 
this  corruption  has  the  qualities  of  connecting  the  most  inveterate 


24:6  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

enemies,  personal  as  well  as  political.  It  has  united  in  close  concert 
those,  of  whom  it  has  been  said,  not  in  the  figurative  language  of  pro 
phecy,  but  in  the  sober  narrative  of  history,  '  I  have  bruised  thy 
lu':ul  and  thou  hast  bruised  my  heel.'  Such  is  the  description  of  per 
sons  who  would  present  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  an 
act,  to  which,  when  he  puts  his  hand,  he  signs  a  libel  on  his  whole 
political  life.  But  he  will  never  tarnish  the  unsullied  lustre  of  his 
fame ;  he  will  never  sanction  the  monstrous  position  (for  such  it  is, 
dress  it  up  as  you  will),  that  a  legislator  may  sell  his  vote,  and  a 
right  which  cannot  be  divested  will  pass  under  such  sale.  Establish 
this  doctrine,  and  there  is  an  end  of  representative  government ;  from 
that  moment  republicanism  receives  its  death-blow. 

"  The  feeble  cry  of  Virginian  influence  and  ambitious  leaders,  is 
attempted  to  be  raised.  If  such  insinuations  were  worthy  of  a  reply, 
I  might  appeal  to  you,  Mr.  Speaker,  for  the  fact,  that  no  man  in  this 
House  (yourself  perhaps  excepted)  is  oftener  in  a  minority  than  I 
am.  If  by  a  leader  be  meant  one  who  speaks  his  opinion  frankly  and 
boldly — who  claims  something  of  that  independence,  of  which  the 
gentleman  from  New-York  so  loudly  vaunts — who  will  not  connive  at 
public  robbery,  be  the  robbers  who  they  may, — then  the  imputation 
may  be  just ;  such  is  the  nature  of  my  ambition :  but  in  the  common 
arivptation  of  words,  nothing  can  be  more  false.  In  the  coarse  but 
strong  language  of  the  proverb,  '  'tis  the  still  sow  that  sucks  the 
draff.' 

"  No,  sir,  we  are  not  the  leaders.  There  they  sit !  and  well  they 
know  it,  forcing  down  our  throats  the  most  obnoxious  measures. 
Gentlemen  may  be  silent,  but  they  shall  be  dragged  into  public  view. 
If  they  direct  our  public  counsels,  at  least  let  them  answer  for  the 
result.  We  will  not  be  responsible  for  their  measures.  If  we  do 
not  hold  the  reins,  we  will  not  be  accountable  for  the  accidents  which 
may  befall  the  carriage. 

44  But,  sir,  I  am  a  denunciator  !  Of  whom  ?  Of  the  gentlemen  on 
my  left  ?  Not  at  all ;  but  of  those  men  and  their  principles  whom 
the  people  themselves  have  denounced ;  on  whom  they  have  burnt 
their  indelible  curse,  deep  and  lasting  as  the  lightning  from  heaven. 

44  Mr.  Speaker,  I  had  hoped  that  we  should  not  be  content  to  live 
upon  the  principal  of  our  popularity,  that  we  should  go  on  to  deserve 
the  public  confidence,  and  the  disapprobation  of  the  gentleman  over 


CLOSING  SCENE,  247 

the  way ;  but  if  every  thing  is  to  be  reversed — if  official  influence  is 
to  become  the  handmaid  of  private  interest — if  the  old  system  is  to 
be  revived  with  the  old  men,  or  any  that  can  be  picked  up, — I  may 
deplore  the  defection,  but  never  will  cease  to  stigmatize  it.  Never 
shall  I  hesitate  between  any  minority,  far  less  that  in  which  I  find 
myself,  and  such  a  majority  as  is  opposed  to  us.  I  .took  my  degrees, 
sir,  in  this  House  in  a  minority,  much  smaller,  indeed,  but  of  the 
same  stamp :  a  minority,  whose  very  act  bore  the  test  of  rigorous 
principle,  and  with  them  to  the  last  I  will  exclaim,  Fiat  justitia  mat 
cesium." 

It  is  too  plainly  to  be  perceived,  that  a  man  of  this  bold,  fearless, 
and  independent  character,  was  not  to  be  tolerated  by  those  who,  in 
their  connection  with  the  government,  had  far  other  objects  in  view 
than  pure  principle  or  patriotism  5  or  even  by  those  honest  plodding 
men,  whose  blundering  mediocrity  was  awed  and  overshadowed  by  his 
superior  genius.  He  must  be  put  down  ;  the  fiat,  we  know,  had 
already  gone  forth.  Whole  States  had  been  traversed  last  summer 
to  organize  an  opposition  to  him  ;  he  must  be  silenced,  or  driven  into 
the  ranks  of  the  federalists,  and  then  nobody  will  believe  what  he 
says.  The  plot  was  now  ripe  for  execution :  like  Caesar,  he  was  to 
fall  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  by  the  hands  of  his  treacherous  friends. 
The  evening  of  the  21st  of  April,  on  the  final  adjournment  of  the 
House,  was  selected  as  the  time — that  parting  hour,  usually  given  up 
to  hilarity,  to  friendship,  and  an  oblivious  forgetfulness  of  all  past 
animosities,  was  chosen  as  the  fit  occasion  to  stab  to  the  heart  one 
who  should  have  been  their  pride  and  their  ornament — one,  whose 
only  crime  was,  not  that  of  having  conspired  against  the  liberties  of 
his  country,  but  that  of  having  spoken  the  truth,  and  maintained 
right.  Alas !  for  the  virtue  and  the  liberties  of  mankind.  This 
has  most  usually  been  the  crime  they  have  ignorantly  pursued  and 
punished.  Corruption  opens  a  path  where  truth  finds  an  impassable 
barrier. 

As  the  shades  of  night  were  gathering  over  the  legislative  hall, 
while  the  dim  light  of  the  taper  served  only  to  make  darkness  visible, 
the  conspirators,  each  with  his  part  well  conned  and  prepared,  com 
menced  the  assault  on  their  unsuspecting  victim,  who  sat  as  a  confiding 
friend  in  their  midst. 

Mr.  William  Findley,  a  member  from  Pennsylvania,  rose  and  ad- 


248  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

dressed  the  House,  without  provocation,  in  a  strain  of  gross  and  inde 
cent  personal  abuse  of  Mr.  Randolph,  charging  him  with  having 
designs  to  pull  down  the  present  administration.  It  was  plainly  to 
be  perceived,  from  the  language  and  manner  of  Findley,  that  he  was 
at  this  time  very  much  intoxicated  with  strong  drink ;  and  many  of 
the  members  then  present  declared  the  same  opinion.  Mr.  Findley 
was  so  outrageously  indecent  in  his  language,  that  he  was  repeatedly 
called  to  order  ;  but,  without  regarding  the  call,  he  continued  to 
speak  in  the  same  strain,  until  the  House  was  thrown  into  a  state  of 
confusion,  perhaps  never  before  witnessed. 

As  soon  as  Findley  sat  down,  John  Randolph  rose,  and  without 
taking  particular  notice  of  the  conduct  of  the  unfortunate  old  man, 
observed,  in  a  manner  the  most  mild,  dignified  and  conciliatory,  that 
"  he  had  hoped,  however  we  might  have  differed  in  opinion  on  the  va 
rious  subjects  discussed  this  session,  we  should,  on  the  eve  of  separa 
tion,  have  forgiven  and  forgotten  any  asperities  and  political  animos 
ities  that  had  occurred  during  the  session ;  and  that  we  should  have 
parted  like  men  and  friends.  He  had  hoped  the  harmony  of  that 
House  would  not  have  been  disturbed  in  the  last  moments  of  the  ses 
sion,  either  by  those  who  had  been  habitual  declaimers.  or  by  those 
who  had  kept  the  noiseless  tenor  of  their  way ;  that  contumely  and 
personal  hatred  would  have  been  banished  from  these  walls,  and  that 
we  should  at  least  have  separated  in  good  humor."  These  remarks 
produced  a  gleam  of  pleasure  on  the  countenance  of  almost  every  per 
son  present.  The  language  he  used  and  the  sentiments  he  expressed 
were  so  mild  and  conciliatory,  that  Mr.  Randolph's  friends  were  par 
ticularly  delighted.  Although  there  was  nothing  in  his  language  or 
manner  that  would  justify  in  the  smallest  degree  an  idea  that  he  in 
tended  to  make  any  particular  or  personal  allusion,  yet  the  attention 
of  every  member  then  present  was  immediately  directed  to  Mr. 
Thomas  Mann  Randolph,  the  President's  son-in-laiv,  who,  under  the 
impression  that  John  Randolph  had  made  some  allusion  to  him 
(which  no  person  present  but  himself  could  have  supposed),  rose,  and 
in  a  manner  indicative  of  rage  and  defiance,  vociferated : 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  I  rise  to  reply  to  the  gentleman  from  Virginia.  I 
will  not  pretend  to  vie  with  him  in  point  of  talent  or  of  eloquence ; 
in  these  he  is  far,  very  far,  my  superior.  This  is  not  the  first  time 
that  gentleman  has  availed  himself  of  the  sanction  and  the  presence 


CLOSING  SCENE.  249 

of  this  assembly,  to  apply  his  personal  allusions  to  me,  and  to  make 
use  of  language  and  conduct  here,  which  he  would  not  do  out  of  this 
House. 

"  But,  sir,  I  will  tell  that  gentleman,  that  however  he  may  be  my 
superior  in  talents  and  eloquence,  in  patriotism  I  am  his  superior ; 
yes,  sir.  his  superior.  Last  year,  sir,  that  gentleman  commenced  flor 
ist,  and  dealt  in  flowers  and  gardening ;  I  saw  him  with  his  spade 
and  pitchfork,  and  rake  and  manure,  cultivating  his  flower-garden. 
This,  sir,  was  on  the  Yazoo  question ;  and  then  I  perceived  the  gen 
tleman  launch  forth  to  sea,  without  compass  or  rudder,  his  masts 
broken,  his  sails  tattered  and  torn,  and  his  vessel  in  a  leaky  condi 
tion  ;  and,  when  I  saw  that,  sir,  I  thought  it  Lgh  time  to  quit  him, 
and  look  out  for  the  land.  The  gentleman  can  talk  and  boast  of  the 
arguments  of  lead,  and  powder,  and  steel ;  with  these  arguments,  sir, 
I  am  as  expert  as  himself,  and  as  willing  as  he  may  be  to  use  them." 

Mr.  Thomas  Mann  Randolph  possessed  as  quick  and  as  fiery  a 
temper  as  his  kinsman ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  any  motive 
for  the  anger,  rage,  and  threatening  denunciation  exhibited  on  this 
occasion,  unless  it  was  premeditated,  and  the  deliberate  part  of  a  con 
certed  scheme  to  immolate  John  Randolph  on  the  altar  of  party  in 
tolerance,  for  having  dared  to  differ  from  them  as  to  what  they  chose 
to  assume  and  hold  forth  as  the  wishes  of  the  Executive.  This  gen 
tleman  had  taken  no  part  in  the  previous  debate,  and  it  is  impossible 
that  any  allusion  could  have  been  made  to  him.  As  he  progressed, 
towering  in  rage,  astonishment  and  regret  were  exhibited  in  the  looks 
and  expressions  of  the  members.  This  speech  had  the  most  strange 
and  alarming  effect.  The  atmosphere  seemed  to  be  surcharged  with 
electric  fire,  and  another  spark  would  blow  it  into  a  flame. 

Coming  from  the  quarter  it  did,  and  under  existing  circumstances, 
this  denunciation  excited  in  the  minds  of  a  great  part  of  those  pres 
ent,  sentiments  of  the  most  serious  nature.  Where  this  thing  might 
end,  they  could  not  conjecture,  but  felt  the  most  anxious  apprehen 
sion.  That  Randolph  was  to  be  denounced  on  this  occasion  by  all 
the  self-anointed  priests  of  the  true  faith,  and  to  be  cast  out  of  the 
synagogue,  cannot  be  questioned.  The  moment  Thomas  Mann  took 
his  seat,  he  was  followed  by  James  Sloan,  of  New  Jersey,  who  read 
a  speech  of  about  two  sheets,  closely  written,  and  then  delivered  it 
over  into  the  hands  of  the  printer,  who  was  present  to  receive  it,  and 
11* 


250  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

to  publish  it.  Randolph  had  not  been  sparing  in  his  ridicule  of  the 
crude  conceptions  of  this  man,  put  forth  in  a  series  of  resolutions  on 
the  great  and  grave  questions  about  which  the  administration  itself 
had  no  settled  opinion.  He  called  the  nostrums  of  this  man 
"  Sloan's  mint-drops"  Now  was  the  time  for  revenge — when  the 
-whole  pack  was  in  full  cry,  and  the  noble  stag  at  bay.  he  could 
slyly  thrust  his  fangs  into  his  side  with  impunity.  But  Randolph 
did  not  wait  to  hear  this  well-studied  lecture,  which  for  false  asser 
tions,  low  scurrility,  and  personal  abuse,  cannot  be  surpassed.  If  he 
heard  it  at  all,  it  fell  senseless  on  his  ears.  He  was  after  other 
game.  A  few  minutes  after  T.  M.  Randolph  closed  his  remarks, 
John  Randolph  left  his  seat,  and  desired  Mr.  Garnett  to  make  a  for 
mal  application  to  know  whether  the  remarks  that  had  fallen  from 
that  gentleman  were  addressed  to  him,  and  unless  he  disavowed  any 
such  intention,  to  demand  a  meeting.  Mr.  Garnett  seemed  deeply 
concerned  at  this  request,  and  endeavored  to  dissuade  his  friend  from 
the  step.  Randolph  replied,  that  his  'resolution  was  irrevocably 
taken  ;  that,  perhaps,  on  the  whole,  he  had  cause  to  be  obliged  to  Mr. 
Thomas  Mann  Randolph  ;  that  he  had  long  been  a  target  for  every 
worthless  scoundrel  in  that  House  to  aim  his  shafts  at ;  and  that  Mr. 
T.  M.  Randolph,  by  this  unprovoked  and  studied  outrage,  had  given 
him  an  opportunity  to  answer  them  all,  in  the  person  of  an  adversary 
who  would  not  disgrace  his  contest,  and  under  circumstances  in 
which  no  possible  blame  could  attach  to  him.  Mr.  T.  M.  Randolph 
replied  to  Mr.  Garnett,  that  unless  he  had  supposed  some  of  Mr. 
John  Randolph's  expressions  pointed  particularly  at  him,  he  should 
have  thought  himself  highly  culpable  in  saying  what  he  had  ;  but 
believing  that  they  were  intended  for  him,  he  felt  himself  called  upon 
to  say  something. 

Having  acknowledged  that  his  observations  were  levelled  at  Mr. 
John  Randolph,  he  was  told  that  that  gentleman  expected  to  meet 
him.  He  replied  that  he  was  ready  to  do  so ;  but  that  if  Mr.  John 
Randolph  would  only  say  that  he  meant  no  allusion  to  him,  there  was 
no  apology  which  a  man  of  honor  could  or  ought  to  make,  which  he 
would  not  be  ready  to  offer.  When  Mr.  Garnett  delivered  this  mes 
sage,  Mr.  John  Randolph  observed  that  the  course  which  Mr.  T.  M. 
Randolph  had  chosen  to  pursue  precluded  any  sort  of  declaration 
or  acknowledgment  on  his  part ;  that  Mr.  T.  M.  R.  must  make  repa- 


CLOSING  SCENE.  251 

ration  commensurate  with  the  injury  aimed  at  his  feelings,  or  meet 
him,  and  give  him  satisfaction.  Mr.  Garnett  immediately  apprised 
the  gentleman  of  these  conditions,  and  requested  that  he  would  choose 
some  friend  with  whom  he  might  have  farther  conversation  on  the 
subject.  Mr.  Coles  was  called  in ;  after  a  short  consultation  aside  with 
his  friend,  he  rejoined  Mr.  Garnett,  and  said :  All  that  Mr.  T.  M.  R. 
desired  was  an  assurance  that  none  of  Mr.  J.  R.'s  remarks  were  in 
tended  for  him,  and  that  he  would  be  willing  (in  that  case)  to  make 
any  apology  a  man  of  honor  could  offer.  Mr.  Garnett  replied,  that 
there  was  no  doubt  on  his  mind,  or,  he  believed,  of  any  other  specta 
tor,  that  Mr.  T.  M.  R.  had  entirely  misconceived  Mr.  J.  R.'s  expres 
sions;  but  that,  after  what  had  passed,  Mr.  J.  R.  would  make  no 
statement  whatever ;  and  if  Mr.  T.  M.  R.  could  not  reconcile  it  to  him 
self  to  make  a  suitable  apology,  Mr.  J.  R.  would  expect  Mr.  T.  M. 
R.  to  meet  him  either  that  night  (which  he  preferred)  or  in  the  morn 
ing.  Mr.  Coles  said  he  was  too  much  engaged  in  the  public  busi 
ness  at  that  time  to  see  his  friend,  but  would  do  it  as  soon  as  he  could, 
and  let  Mr.  Garnett  know  the  result.  Mr.  Garnett  returned  with 
this  statement  to  Mr.  John  Randolph,  who  was  in  a  remote  room  of 
the  Capitol,  and  then  took  his  seat  in  the  House.  In  a  few  minutes 
afterwards,  Mr.  Thomas  Mann  Randolph  rose  in  his  place,  and  said 
that  he  had  been  assured,  by  several  of  those  who  sat  near  him,  that 
he  had  acted  in  what  he  had  before  said  under  a  misapprehension  of 
Mr.  John  Randolph's  remarks,  which  none  of  them  understood  as 
having  been  intended  for  him ;  that  under  this  misapprehension  he 
had  acted ;  it  was  the  sole  cause  of  his  saying  what  he  had  said ; 
and  that  he  was  then  persuaded  by  the  assurance  of  his  friends  of 
his  mistake.  He  regretted  very  much  what  he  had  said,  for  he  had 
no  disposition  to  wound  any  gentleman's  feelings  who  did  not  intend 
to  wound  his. 

Mr.  Garnett  immediately  went  to  Mr.  John  Randolph,  and  stated 
that  Mr.  T.  M.  R.  had  made  such  an  apology  in  the  House  as  Mr. 
Garnett  conceived,  and  as  every  member  said  who  mentioned  the  sub 
ject  in  his  hearing  (which  several  did)  was  proper  for  Mr.  T.  M.  R. 
to  make  and  for  Mr.  J.  R.  to  receive. 

Mr.  Randolph  then  requested  his  friend  to  say  to  Mr.  Coles  that 
he  received  the  apology  of  Mr.  T.  M.  Randolph,  and  had  no  further 
commands  for  that  gentleman,  which  Mr.  Garnett  did  just  as  the 
House  was  breaking  up  ;  and  thus  the  business  terminated. 


252  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH, 


CHAPTEE    XXXII. 

AAEON  BUKK. 

MISFORTUNES,  rtis  said,  come  not  alone;  it  proved  so  with  Mr. 
Randolph  on  this  occasion.  In  his  retirement  at  Bizarre,  after  the 
stormy  session  just  passed,  and  other  occurrences  of  a  domestic  na 
ture,  his  reflections  could  not  have  been  of  the  most  pleasant  kind. 
However  conscious  of  rectitude,  the  prospect  before  him  must  have 
been  cheerless  indeed.  For  four  years  he  had  been  the  popular  lead 
er  of  a  triumphant  party,  who  were  successfully  carrying  into  opera 
tion  those  great  measures  of  reform  that  would  bring  back  the  Federal 
Government  to  the  few  simple  and  general  subjects  of  legislation  for 
which  alone  it  was  designed.  Never  had  a  young  man  risen  so  ra 
pidly  or  so  high  in  the  public  estimatio'n.  He  was  the  idol  of  his 
party ;  his  eloquence  and  his  practical  wisdom  were  extolled  on 
every  hand ;  and  it  seemed  that  there  was  no  station  or  honor  in  the 
gift  of  the  people  that  he  was  not  destined  to  attain.  But  now  the 
scene  was  changed.  For  having  ventured  to  suggest  a  plan  of  action 
different  from  that  which  seemed  to  be  favored  by  the  Executive,  he 
was  denounced  by  his  old  friends,  his  motives  calumniated,  and  he 
was  charged  with  a  design  of  pulling  down  the  present  administra 
tion.  How  bitter  must  have  been  his  feelings,  at  the  reflection  that 
the  highest  stretch  of  patriotism,  which  could  cause  a  sacrifice  of  all 
the  bright  prospects  before  him  for  the  sake  of  doing  his  duty,  should 
meet  with  such  a  reward.  But  it  has  always  been  so.  In  popular 
governments,  the  intolerant  spirit  of  a  triumphant  majority  will  al 
low  no  deviation  from  that  standard  of  orthodoxy  which  it  has  set  up 
for  itself.  Freedom  of  opinion  is  professed,  but  you  exercise  it  at 
the  peril  of  being  banished  from  the  society  of  those  who  hold  the 
reins  and  prescribe  the  course  that  ought  to  be  pursued.  There  are 
so  many  interested  in  degrading  a  popular  and  leading  man  in  a  po 
litical  party,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  him  ever  to  retrieve  the 
first  false  step.  It  matters  not  how  pure  his  motives,  or  how  far  it 
may  be  from  his  intention  to  separate  from  his  party  friends,  yet 
there  are  always  enough,  from  interested  motives,  to  take  advantage 


AARON  BURR.  253 

of  the  slightest  deviation  from  the  standard  of  the  majority,  to  de 
nounce  him  as  a  deserter,  and  to  drive  him  into  the  opposition.  Politi 
cians,  generally,  are  a  heartless  and  selfish  race  of  men.  There  are 
many  honorable  exceptions  ;  but  for  the  most  part,  their  own  aggran 
dizement  is  the  end  of  their  patriotism ;  and  they  always  look  with 
secret  satisfaction  on  the  disappointment  or  the  fall  of  one  whose  su 
perior  talents  overshadowed  their  own  self-importance,  or  whose  stern 
virtues  and  integrity  stood  in  the  way  of  the  accomplishment  of  their 
selfish  ends. 

Mr.  Randolph  never  deviated  from  those  principles  he  professed, 
while  in  a  minority  ;  his  party,  in  many  instances,  had  departed  from 
them ;  he  undertook  the  ungracious  task  of  holding  up  to  view  their 
own  dereliction.  Sovereign  majorities,  as  well  as  sovereign  princes, 
do  not  like  to  hear  their  own  infallibility  brought  in  question — espe 
cially  will  they  not  tolerate  it  in  one  who  is  a  subject  of  their  power. 
Mr.  Randolph  had  no  faith  in  the  Cabinet,  while  he  retained  the  ut 
most  confidence  in  the  Chief  Magistrate.  He  knew  that  corruption 
had  crept  into  the  legislature,  through  the  Post  Office  department 
and  the  Yazoo  speculation,  and  that,  as  a  body,  they  had  surrenden-d 
their  independence  into  the  hands  of  the  Executive.  His  great 
crime  was  that  of  maintaining  the  independence  of  the  legislature,  as 
a  co-ordinate  department  of  government.  Let  posterity  judge  how 
far  he  should  be  condemned  for  such  an  offence. 

.During  the  excited  and  sleepless  hours  of  the  past  session,  Mr. 
Randolph  was  assailed  by  his  old  hereditary  disease,  in  its  most  ag 
gravated  form — he  was  prostrate  on  his  bed  for  many  weeks,  racked 
with  the  most  excruciating  torture.  With  repeated  accumulation  of 
mental  distress,  and  even  of  mental  agony,  caused  by  domestic  occurren 
ces,  the  diseases  of  the  body  seemed  to  keep  pace  with  them,  and  to  pro 
duce  a  degree  of  suffering  such  as  no  mortal  man  ever  endured  before. 
With  heroic  fortitude,  he  suppressed  his  feelings,  and  the  world, 
while  they  condemned  his  outbursts  of  passion,  never  knew  the  real 
cause  of  his  eccentricities.  With  a  pride  and  a  haughty  reserve 
rarely  equalled,  he  shut  himself  up  from  common  observation,  and  was 
content  to  be  the  subject  of  misrepresentation  and  of  malicious  cal 
umny,  without  condescending  to  explanation  or  reply.  To  a  few 
only  did  he  unbosom  himself,  and  expose  the  wounds  of  body  and 
of  soul,  which  he  carried,  with  increased  aggravation,  to  the  grave. 


254  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

Hereafter,  the  reader  will  have  an  opportunity  of  reading  his  con 
fessions,  poured  into  the  bosom  of  his  most  intimate  friend,  and  to 
weep  over  the  many  sufferings  he  endured,  in  what  he  chose  to  call 
his  "  most  unprosperous  life." 

But  there  was  one  occurrence,  which  took  place  in  the  month  of 
March,  that  aifected  Mr.  Randolph  more  than  all  things  else.  The 
reader  is  already  aware  of  the  great  attachment  he  had  formed, 
many  years  ago,  to  a  young  lady  of  remarkable  beauty,  virtues, 
and  accomplishments — one  Iloved  more  than  my  own  soul,  or  the 
God  that  made  it.  Many  untoward  events  had  prevented  their 
union,  and  made  it  impossible — yet  he  vainly  cherished  the  hope  that 
their  love,  sublimated  into  a  pure,  Platonic  affection,  might  last  to  the 
end  of  life — idle  expectation,  that  no  other  human  being  could  have 
indulged.  There  was  no  reason  in  the  indulgence  of  such  a  wish  ; 
but  love  is  blind,  tyrannical,  and  has  no  reason.  The  lady  thought 
proper  to  unite  her  fortunes  with  one  in  whose  society  she  might  hope 
to  live  a  more  happy  life,  than  in  that  of  her  present  most  devoted 
but  unfortunate  lover.  This  event,  which  took  place  in  the  midst  of 
the  excited  debates  of  Congress,  and  at  a  moment  when  his  friends 
were  deserting  him  on  every  hand,  struck  deep  into  the  heart  of  Mr. 
Randolph — he  never  recovered  from  it — it  had  a  visible  influence  on 
the  whole  of  his  after  life.  His  love,  now  purified  of  all  earthly 
desire,  became  a  genuine  worship — the  image  of  the  beloved  object, 
mirrored  in  the  distance,  hovered  over  his  path,  like  some  angelic  be 
ing,  whose  celestial  smiles  shed  benignest  influence  on  his  heart, 
where  all  else  had  grown  cold  and  desolate.  Long  years  afterwards, 
when  the  body  was  locked  in  the  fitful  embraces  of  a  feverish  sleep, 
and  the  soul  wandering  in  dreams,  that  once  loved  name  has  been 
heard  to  escape  from  his  lips,  in  a  tone  that  evinced  how  deeply  the 
love  of  the  being  who  bore  it  had  been  engraven  on  the  inmost 
sanctuary  of  his  heart.  But  why  do  we  call  up  these  things  1  Read 
er  !  there  was  a  tragedy  in  the  life  of  this  man,  more  thrilling  than 
romance.  But  this  is  a  subject  not  for  us  to  deal  with ;  we  promised 
not  to  touch  it  more ;  let  it  go  down  to  the  oblivion  of  the  grave, 
and  there  sleep  with  those  who,  in  life,  endured  its  agonies.  We  ask 
pardon  for  having  glanced  at  it  here,  and  for  the  last  time,  because  it 
is  impossible  to  form  a  correct  estimate  of  the  man,  without  some 
knowledge  of  this  occurrence,  which  constituted  one  of  the  most  iui- 


AARON  BURR.  ^255 

portant  events  of  his  life.  Let  the  skeptical  look  into  his  own  heart, 
and  see  whether  he  is  capable  of  elevating  his  affections  above  a  mere 
sensual  appetite.  If  not,  then  he  is  no  fit  judge  of  that  man,  whose  ex 
alted  passion,  rising  above  all  earthly  desire,  knows  no  other  bounds  but 
the  infinite  longing  of  an  immortal  soul. 

Let  us  now  proceed  with  our  narrative. 

Notwithstanding  the  harsh  and  unfriendly  manner  in  which  he 
had  been  treated,  Mr.  Randolph  returned  to  Washington  in  Decem 
ber,  with  every  disposition  to  harmonize  and  co-operate  with  the  re 
publican  party.  His  difference  from  them  last  session,  was  on  a 
question  of  mere  expediency — the  propriety  of  which  time  alone  could 
prove.  Unless  they  intended  to  abandon,  in  the  conduct  of  affairs, 
all  the  principles  they  professed  while  in  a  minority,  it  was  impossi 
ble  for  him  to  co-operate  with  any  other  body  of  men.  However 
much  he  might  be  irritated  in  his  feelings  towards  certain  individuals, 
he  did  not  allow  that  circumstance  so  far  to  influence  his  judgment  as 
to  cause  him  to  vote  for  or  against  a  measure  merely  to  be  in  op 
position  to  them.  Accordingly  we  find  him,  on  most  occasions,  work 
ing  in  harmony  with  the  friends  of  the  administration ;  and  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  good  feeling  restored  between  him  and  some  of 
the  leading  members.  It  is  true,  there  was  no  important  question 
on  which  there  was  likely  to  be  a  diversity  of  sentiment,  The  non 
importation  law,  by  the  terms  of  its  enactment,  was  not  to  go  into 
operation  till  the  last  of  November;  and  now  that  the  time  had 
arrived,  it  was  proposed,  on  the  part  of  its  friends,  to  postpone  it  to 
a  still  later  period.  It  was  alleged  that  the  British  commissioners 
desired  not  a  repeal,  but  a  postponement  merely,  while  negotiations 
were  pending  between  the  two  countries.  Of  course  Mr.  Randolph 
readily  united  with  them  in  this  measure ;  and  it  is  not  surprising 
that  he  took  occasion  to  intimate  that,  in  his  judgment,  time  had 
proved  the  impolicy  and  inefficiency  of  the  original  enactment.  But 
the  only  question  of  any  importance  to  which  their  attention  was 
called,  during  the  last  session  of  the  ninth  Congress,  was  the  con 
spiracy  of  Aaron  Burr.  After  his  bitter  disappointments,  both  on 
the  national  theatre  and  in  New- York,  his  adopted  State — after  the 
sudden  and  irretrievable  fall  of  this  ambitious  man,  and  when  the 
cold  eye  of  neglect  had  chilled,  like  a  frost,  the  last  spark  of  patriot 
ism  in  the  breast  of  this  legalized  murderer,  he  had  gone  into  the 


256  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

great  Mississippi  Valley,  in  search  of  some  adventure  adequate  to  his 
genius  and  his  ambition.  Here,  indeed,  was  a  vast  field  for  enter 
prise — abundant  material  for  any  undertaking  that  might  require 
perseverance,  privation,  and  heroic  daring — there  was  also  a  little 
discontent  in  the  popular  mind,  in  some  parts  of  the  West,  which 
might  have  inspired  a  less  sanguine  man  than  Aaron  Burr  with  hopes 
of  tampering  with  their  patriotism. 

Soon  rumors  came  that  this  man  was  planning  and  organizing 
some  vast  expedition,  the  precise  object  of  which  was  the  subject  only 
of  conjecture.  Whether  it  was  his  design  to  make  war  on  the 
Spanish  province  of  Mexico,  or  whether,  in  co-operation  with  Spain? 
he  was  aiding  her  in  the  long  cherished  scheme  of  separating  the 
western  country  from  the  United  States,  none  could  tell;  but  all 
agreed  that  the  genius  and  the  resources  of  the  chief  director  of  the 
enterprise  were  adequate  to  any  desperate  adventure,  whether  of 
foreign  aggression  or  domestic  treason. 

The  Executive  was  soon  apprised  of  the  state  of  things,  and  were 
endeavoring  to  get  all  the  information  they  could  in  regard  to  the 
matter.  But  the  newspapers  were  so  full  of  rumors  and  statements, 
implicating  the  Spanish  Government  as  the  prime  mover  of  this  con 
spiracy,  that  Mr.  Randolph,  after  having  waited  five  or  six  weeks  for 
official  intelligence,  at  length  moved  a  resolution  to  call  on  the  Presi 
dent  for  information.  We  give  his  speech  entire  on  this  occasion,  as 
it  shows  his  views  of  the  Spanish  question  twelve  months  after  his 
separation  from  the  administration  on  that  subject. 

"  In  the  President's  Message,"  said  Mr.  Randolph,  "  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  session,  he  announced  to  us  as  follows  : 

" '  Having  received  information,  that  in  another  part  of  the  United 
States  a  great  number  of  private  individuals  were  combining  toge 
ther,  arming  and  organizing  themselves,  contrary  to  law,  to  carry  on 
a  military  expedition  against  the  territories  of  Spain,  I  thought  it 
necessary,  by  proclamation,  as  well  as  by  special  orders,  to  take  mea 
sures  for  preventing  and  suppressing  this  enterprise,  for  seizing  the 
vessels,  arms,  and  other  means  provided  for  it,  and  for  arresting  and 
bringing  to  justice  its  authors  and  abettors.' 

"  So  long,"  said  Mr.  Randolph,  "as  the  illegal  movements  of  these 
persons  were  supposed  to  be  directed  against  a  foreign  nation, 
although  the  interest  of  the  United  States,  and  their  honor  too, 


AARON  BURR.  257 

required  that  prompt  and  decisive  measures  should  be  taken  for  sup 
pressing  their  designs,  yet  I  believe  there  is  no  gentleman  in  this 
House  but  will  agree  with  me  in  the  opinion  that  the  United  States, 
and  this  House  in  particular,  could  not  feel  so  deep  and  lively  an  in 
terest  against  a  conspiracy  of  that  kind  as  against  one  for  the  subver 
sion  of  the  Union,  and  perhaps  of  the  liberties  of  those  who  compose 
it.  I  have  waited  with  anxious  solicitude  for  some  information  in 
relation  to  this  subject,  that  might  be  depended  upon — for  some 
official  information.  I  contented  myself  for  a  long  time  with  the 
belief,  inasmuch  as  no  information  had  been  given  to  the  House, 
that  there  were  imperious  reasons  connected  with  the  public  welfare 
which  forbade  a  disclosure ;  but  the  aspect  which  affairs  have  taken 
on  the  Mississippi  is  such,  that  I  can  no  longer  reconcile  it  to  my 
sense  of  duty,  as  the  independent  representative  of  an  independent 
people,  to  rest  satisfied  in  that  state  of  supineness  and  apathy  in 
which  the  House  has  been  satisfied  to  remain  for  the  six  or  seven 
weeks  past.  Sir,  from  the  information  I  have  been  able  to  collect — 
and  it  is  such  that  I  am  obliged  to  place  great  if  not  implicit  reliance 
on  it — it  does  appear  to  me,  that  if  the  government  of  Spain  is  in 
any  wise  connected  in  these  measures,  it  is  concerned  not  as  the  de 
fendant,  but  as  the  plaintiff — as  the  aggressing  party,  and  not  as  the 
party  on  whom  the  aggression  is  made.  So  long  as  I  was  induced  to 
believe,  that  by  withholding  correct  information  from  the  Legislature 
the  substantial  interests  of  the  nation  would  be  more  essentially  sub 
served  than  by  laying  it  before  them,  so  long,  though  not  without 
reluctance,  I  acquiesced  in  its  being  withheld.  But  from  the  hostile 
appearances  on  the  Mississippi,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  state  of  things 
is  such  as  requires  the  most  prompt  and  efficacious  measures  for 
securing  the  Union.  The  bubble  is  said  to  have  burst,  and  there  no 
longer  remains  any  reason  why  the  information  in  the  possession  of 
the  Executive  ought  to  be  withheld.  But  to  guard  against  all  pos 
sible  objection,  I  have  endeavored  so  to  frame  the  motion  as  to  do 
away  with  any  objection  arising  from  this  consideration.  It  does 
appear — from  the  newspapers  it  is  true,  but  under  a  much  higher  sanc 
tion  than  is  generally  attached  to  information  received  through  such  a 
channel — it  does  appear  in  evidence,  under  the  sanction  of  an  exami 
nation  before  the  legislature  of  Kentucky,  that  ever  since  the  peace 
of  1783,  Spain  has  incessantly  labored  to  detach  the  western  people 


258  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

from  the  Union ;  that  subsequently  to  the  peace  of  San  Lorenzo  she 
has  carried  on  intrigues,  and  in  the  most  faithless  manner  withheld 
acceding  to  its  stipulations,  in  order  to  excite  a  spirit  in  the  western 
country  subversive  of  the  Union  ;  that  she  subsequently  made  a  pro 
position  of  the  most  flagitious  kind  to  several  leading  characters  in 
Kentucky,  and  as  I  believe  elsewhere.  It  seeins,  indeed,  that  she  has 
never  lost  sight  of  this  object;  and  I  believe  she  never  will  lose 
sight  of  it  so  long  as  she  shall  find  materials  to  work  upon,  or  a  sha 
dow  of  hope  that  she  will  succeed.  It  appears  to  me  that  she  has 
found  those  materials ;  that  they  are  of  the  most  dangerous  nature  ; 
that  they  are  now  in  operation ;  and  that,  perhaps,  at  this  moment, 
while  I  am  addressing  you,  at  least  for  a  time,  the  fate  of  the  West 
ern  country  may  have  been  decided. 

"  Sir,  this  subject  offers  strong  arguments,  in  addition  to  the  nume 
rous  reasons  offered  at  the  present  session  of  Congress,  to  justify  the 
policy  avowed  by  certain  gentlemen  during  the  last  session,  so  highly 
condemned ;  and  if  I  am  correctly  informed,  the  other  branch  of 
the  Legislature  are  now  acting  on  that  policy  so  condemned  and 
despised. 

"  We  have  had  a  bill  before  us  authorizing  the  President  to  accept 
volunteers.  A  member  of  the  committee  with  whom  this  bill  origi 
nated,  and  with  whom  I  have  the  pleasure  of  concurring,  intimately 
connected  and  domesticated  with  the  Secretary  of  War,  did  make  a 
proposition  before  that  committee,  substantially  the  same  with  that 
rejected  the  last  session — to  augment  the  military  forces  to  meet  the 
pressing  exigencies  of  the  times ;  and  which  I  presume  must  have 
had  the  sanction  of  that  officer.  Is  there  a  man  in  this  House  who 
at  this  day  doubts,  that  if  the  Government — I  mean  the  Executive 
and  Legislature — had  taken  a  manly  and  decisive  attitude  towards 
Spain,  and  instead  of  pen,  ink,  and  paper,  had  given  men  and  arms — 
is  there  a  man  who  disbelieves  that  not  only  Spain  would  have  been 
overawed,  but  that  those  domestic  traitors  also  would  have  been  in 
timidated  and  overawed,  whose  plans  threaten  to  be  so  dangerous  ? 
Would  any  man  have  dreamed  of  descending  the  Mississippi  at  the 
head  of  an  unprincipled  banditti,  if  New  Orleans  had  been  fortified, 
and  strong  fortifications  erected  in  its  neighborhood  ?  What  did  we 
then  hear  ?  Money  !  dollars  and  cents !  Is  there  not  now  every 
reason  to  believe,  especially  when  we  consider  the  superintendence 


AARON  BURR.  259 

under  which  the  expenses  are  incurred,  that  the  saving  of  the  cam 
paign  on  the  Sabine,  and  the  saving  of  the  costly  measures  taken  by 
the  commander-in-chief  on  his  own  responsibility,  would  have  been 
equal  to  the  expense  of  raising  and  maintaining  for  one  year  the 
additional  forces  proposed  at  the  last  session  to  be  raised.  There 
can  be  no  doubt,  but  that  on  the  piinciple  of  economy,  without 
taking  into  view  the  effect  on  the  Union,  the  United  States  would 
have  been  gainers.  A  spectator,  not  in  the  habit  of  reading  our  pub 
lic  prints,  or  of  conversing  with  individuals  out  of  doors,  but  who 
should  draw  his  ideas  of  the  situation  of  the  country  from  the  pro 
ceedings  of  this  House  during  the  present  session,  would  be  led  to 
infer  that  there  never  existed  in  any  nation  a  greater  degree  of  peace, 
tranquillity,  or  union,  at  home  or  abroad,  than  in  the  United  States 
at  this  time  ;  and  yet,  what  is  the  fact  ?  That  the  United  States  are 
not  only  threatened  with  external  war,  but  with  conspiracies  and 
treasons,  the  more  alarming  from  their  not  being  defined.  And  yet 
we  sit,  and  acljourn  ;  adjourn,  and  sit ;  take  things  as  schoolboys, 
do  as  we  are  bid,  and  ask  no  questions.  I  cannot  reconcile  this  line 
of  conduct  to  my  ideas  of  the  duty  of  a  member  on  this  floor.  Yes, 
the  youngest  member  of  the  federal  family  has  been  found  to  be  the 
first  to  ward  off  the  impending  danger,  while  the  eldest  members  are 
sleeping,  snoring,  and  dozing  over  their  liberties  at  home. 

Under  this  view  of  the  subject,  I  beg  leave  to  offer  the  following 
resolution : 

"  Resolved — That  the  President  of  the  United  States  be  and  he 
is  hereby  requested  to  lay  before  this  House  any  information  in  pos 
session  of  the  Executive,  except  such  as  he  may  deem  the  public  wel 
fare  to  require  not  to  be  disclosed,  touching  any  illegal  combination 
of  private  individuals  against  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  Union,  or 
any  military  expedition  planned  by  such  individuals  against  the  ter 
ritories  of  any  power  in  amity  with  the  United  States ;  together  with 
the  measures  which  the  Executive  has  pursued  and  proposes  to  take 
for  suppressing  or  defeating  the  same." 

The  resolution  was  carried  by  a  large  majority.  As  more  authen 
tic  news  came  of  the  designs  and  actual  movements  of  the  conspira 
tors,  the  country  became  still  more  alarmed ;  every  one  of  discern 
ment  saw  the  danger  of  this  enterprise ;  they  knew  the  combustible 
materials  that  artful  intriguer  had  to  work  upon,  and  could  readily 


260  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

perceive  how  he  might  take  advantage  of  the  unfriendly  relations 
existing  between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  and  by  the  secret  aid, 
if  not  the  open  co-operation  of  that  discontented  power,  effect  a  dis 
memberment  of  the  Union. 

The  Senate,  in  their  alarm,  went  so  far  as  to  suspend  the  "  Ha 
beas  Corpus  Act,"  which  is  never  resorted  to  except  in  extreme  cases 
of  danger  to  the  peace  and  integrity  of  the  country.  This  act  of  sus 
pension  was  arrested  in  the  House.  Mr.  Randolph  was  most  active 
and  efficient  in  his  opposition  :  he  denounced  it  as  unnecessary,  oppres 
sive,  and  tyrannical.  Most  fortunately  it  was  rejected  by  the  House, 
and  can  never  be  set  up  as  a  precedent. 

Aaron  Burr,  it  is  well  known,  was  arrested  in  Alabama,  and 
brought  to  trial  in  Virginia,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  levied  his 
forces  and  commenced  his  treasonable  acts  within  the  borders  of  that 
State.  The  trial  took  place  in  the  city  of  Richmond,  in  the  month 
of  May,  1807  ;  it  excited  a  great  deal  of  interest,  and  brought  toge 
ther  many  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  Union.  John  Ran 
dolph  was  foreman  of  the  grand  jury  that  brought  in  a  true  bill 
against  Aaron  Burr  of  high  treason  against  his  country.  It  is  not 
our  purpose  to  go  into  the  details  of  this  trial,  or  the  incidents  of  the 
conspiracy :  they  belong  to  the  general  historian,  and  must  form  an 
interesting  and  important  chapter  in  the  history  of  those  critical  and 
eventful  times. 

During  his  sojourn  in  Richmond  on  this  occasion,  Mr.  Randolph 
formed  many  new  and  valuable  acquaintances.  Mr.  Wirt  was  at  this 
time  collecting  materials  for  his  Life  of  Patrick  Henry.  He  was 
conversing  one  day  on  that  subject  in  a  company  of  gentlemen,  when 
Mr.  Tazewell,  who  was  present,  said  to  him  :  "  Mr.  Wirt,  you  should, 
by  all  means,  see  John  Randolph  on  that  subject ;  he  knows  more 
of  Patrick  Henry  than  any  other  man  now  living."  Mr.  Wirt  con 
fessed  that  he  was  not  personally  acquainted  with  that  gentleman. 
The  difficulty  was,  how  to  bring  them  together ;  for  Tazewell  said  it 
would  not  do  to  make  a  formal  introduction,  and  say,  "  This  is  Mr. 
Wirt,  sir,  who  is  desirous  of  obtaining  from  you  some  materials  for 
his  Life  of  Henry.  In  that  case  Randolph  would  not  open  his  lips. 
However,"  said  he,  "  I  will  contrive  a  meeting."  In  a  few  days  Mr. 
Wirt  was  invited  to  Tazewell's  room,  where  he  found  Randolph  and 
other  gentlemen  assembled.  Very  soon,  in  the  course  of  conversa- 


AARON  BURR.  261 

tion,  as  if  by  accident,  the  name  of  Patrick  Henry  was  mentioned. 
Randolph  immediately  caught  up  the  theme,  and  delighted  the 
company  with  a  graphic  account  of  his  personal  appearance,  his 
habits,  and  his  eloquence.  He  frequently  rose  from  his  seat,  and 
repeated  passages  from  the  speeches,  and  imitated  the  peculiar  style 
and  fervid  manner  of  the  renowned  orator.  Wirt  was  so  much 
pleased,  that  when  he  retired  he  wrote  a  note  to  Mr.  Randolph, 
thanking  him  for  the  rich  treat  he  had  given  him,  and  begging  that 
he  would  put  down  in  writing  the  substance  of  what  he  had 
said.  Randolph  now  saw  the  trick  that  was  played  upon  him.  He 
immediately  went  to  his  friend  Tazewell,  and  chided  him  soundly  for 
having  made  an  exhibition  of  him  in  that  way.  Tazewell  turned  it 
off  as  a  pleasant  joke  ;  nevertheless,  the  biographer  of  Patrick  Henry 
never  got  from  that  quarter  any  additional  materials  for  the  subject 
of  his  memoir.  It  was  on  this  occasion  also  that  Mr.  Randolph  first 
made  the  acquaintance  of  Dr.  John  Brockenbrough,  who  from  that 
time  to  the  day  of  his  death  was  the  most  intimate  friend  of  his  bo 
som — the  friend  to  whom  he  daily  unfolded  without  reserve  or  fear 
of  exposure  the  inmost  thoughts  and  feelings  of  his  heart.  The  doc 
tor  was  a  member  of  the  grand  jury,  and  the  acquaintance  commenced 
in  a  way  peculiar  to  John  Randolph.  "  I  did  not  seek  his  acquaint 
ance,"  says  the  doctor,  "  because  it  had  been  impressed  on  my  mind 
that  he  was  a  man  of  a  wayward  and  irritable  temper ;  but  as  he  knew 
that  I  had  been  a  school-fellow  of  his  brothers,  Richard  and  The- 
odoric  (while  he  was  in  Bermuda  for  the  benefit  of  his  health),  he 
very  courteously  made  advances  to  me  to  converse  about  his  brothers, 
to  whom  he  had  been  much  devoted,  and  ever  afterwards  I  found  him 
a  steady  and  confiding  friend.  He  frequently  passed  much  of  his 
time  at  my  house,  and  was  the  most  agreeable  and  interesting  inmate 
you  can  imagine.  No  little  personal  attention  was  ever  lost  on  him, 
and  he  rendered  himself  peculiarly  a  favorite  with  my  wife  by  his 
conversation  on  belles-lettres,  in  which  he  was  so  well  versed ;  and  he 
read  (in  which  he  excelled)  to  her  very  many  of  the  choice  passages  of 
Milton  and  Shakspeare.  Mr.  Randolph  also  had  another  remarkable 
quality,  irritable  and  sensitive  as  he  was ;  when  alone  with  a  friend 
he  would  not  only  bear  with  patience,  but  would  invite  a  full  expres 
sion  of  his  friend's  opinion  on  his  conduct,  or  acts  and  sentiments, 
on  any  subject,  either  private  or  public." 


262  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

CHAPTEK  XXXIII. 

EMBAKGO — THE  ILIAD  OF  ALL  OUE  WOES. 

BY  Jay's  treaty  of  1794,  our  difficulties  with  Great  Britain, 
though  not  settled,  were  quieted  for  the  time  being ;  while  in  conse 
quence  of  the  same  cause  we  were  nearly  involved  in  an  open  rup 
ture  with  France. 

The  change  of  administration  and  the  convention  with  France 
in  1800  restored  a  more  friendly  feeling  between  the  two  repub 
lics — and  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  in  1803  was  accomplished  with 
more  ease  than  Mr.  Jefferson  himself  could  have  expected.  Our 
commerce  for  the  first  four  years  of  the  new  administration  was 
exceedingly  prosperous — and  the  management  of  our  domestic 
affairs  was  conducted  on  strictly  republican  principles.  Had  peace 
continued  in  Europe  during  the  remainder  of  his  term,  Mr.  Jeffer 
son's  would  have  been  a  most  brilliant  and  successful  career.'  But 
after  the  rupture  of  the  treaty  of  Amiens  and  the  renewal  of  hos 
tilities  "between  the  great  belligerent  powers,  an  unfavorable  change 
took  place  in  our  foreign  relations. 

By  a  series  of  extraordinary  victories,  Great  Britain  had  annihi 
lated  the  combined  fleets  of  France,  Spain  and  Holland,  and  made 
herself  undisputed  mistress  of  the  sea.  The  trade  between  these 
countries  and  their  colonies,  their  navies  being  destroyed,  was  now 
for  the  first  time  opened  to  foreign  bottoms.  The  United  States 
were  the  only  people  that  could  avail  themselves  of  this  advantage. 
Their  commercial  marine  in  consequence  was  greatly  enlarged,  and 
commerce  itself  was  more  than  ever  expanded  and  prosperous. 

But  England  soon  perceived  that  so  long  as  this  kind  of  traffic 
was  permitted  she  would  derive  no  advantage  from  her  naval  victo 
ries.  She  commenced  a  series  of  measures  to  put  an  end  to  it. 

Bonaparte,  in  the  mean  time,  having  elevated  himself  to  the 
imperial  throne  of  France,  had  conquered  nearly  all  Europe, 
driven  the  Russian  bear  back  into  his  polar  regions,  and  was  now 
seriously  contemplating  the  destruction  of  England  as  the  only 
barrier  in  the  way  of  universal  conquest.  But  sad  experience  had 


EMBARGO.  263 

taught  him  that  the  only  way  in  which  he  could  reach  that  sea-girt 
empire  was  through  her  manufactures  and  commerce.  His  restric 
tive  system  on  the  continent  was  designed  to  sap  and  undermine 
these  two  sources  of  English  wealth  and  power.  In  their  gigantic 
efforts  to  destroy  each  other,  these  great  belligerents  paid  no  respect 
to  neutral  rights  or  to  the  laws  of  nations — might  became  right,  and 
Robin  Hood's  law  of  the  strongest  was  the  only  available  rule. 
Whatever  could  affect  the  other  injuriously  was  unhesitatingly 
adopted  without  regard  to  the  effect  it  might  have  on  the  rights  of 
neutral  parties.  They  even  resolved  there  should  be  no  neutrals  in 
the  contest ;  and  as  the  United  States  were  the  only  independent 
power  left,  this  warfare  on  their  commerce  was  intended  to  force 
them  into  the  controversy  on  the  one  side  or  the  other. 

The  first  act  of  hostility  was  commenced  by  Great  Britain  on  the 
16th  May,  1806  :  the  British  government,  by  an  order  of  the  King  in 
council,  decreed  that  all  the  rivers  and  ports  from  Brest  to  the  Elbe 
(being  about  a  thousand  miles  of  sea-coast)  should  be  considered  in 
a  state  of  blockade.  Where  a  port  is  actually  blockaded  by  an 
adequate  force,  any  vessel  attempting  to  enter  is  liable  to  be  captur 
ed  by  the  besieging  squadron,  and  to  be  condemned  as  lawful  prize. 
But  where  no  fleet  was  stationed  on  the  prohibited  coast,  and  the 
blockade  merely  consisted  in  a  decree  of  the  government,  all  vessels 
laden  or  sailing  for  the  ports  decreed  to  be  in  a  state  of  siege,  were 
liable  to  be  captured  and  condemned  wherever  found.  This  was  re 
garded  as  a  gross  violation  of  neutral  rights ;  and  on  the  21st 
November,  Bonaparte  commenced  his  acts  of  retaliation.  After  charg 
ing  England  with  disregarding  the  law  of  nations  and  the  rights  of 
neutrality,  and  with  declaring  places  in  a  state  of  blockade  before 
which  she  had  not  a  ship,  he  declared  all  the  British  Isles  in  a 
state  of  blockade,  and  prohibited  all  trade  and  commerce  with 
them.  He  provided  also  in  the  decree  (Berlin  decree)  for  the  cap 
ture  and  condemnation  of  English  produce  and  manufactures,  and 
prohibited  all  neutral  ships  coming  direct  from  England  or  the 
English  colonies,  or  having  been  there,  from  entering  the  ports  of 
France. 

By  this  decree  all  commerce  between  England  and  the  conti 
nent  and  between  the  United  States  and  England  was  intended  to 
be  cut  off.  Any  neutral  vessel  (and  there  were  none  but  those  be- 


264:  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

longing  to  citizens  of  the  United  States)  sailing  for  England,  or 
from  an  English  port  to  the  continent,  was  subject  to  capture  and 
condemnation.  The  French  minister,  in  consequence  of  a  remon 
strance  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  gave  it  as  his  opinion,  that 
the  decree  of  blockade  would  be  so  qualified  by  the  existing  treaty 
as  not  to  operate  on  American  commerce.  Not  much  respect,  how 
ever,  was  paid  to  this  opinion  by  French  cruisers;  and  in  September 
1807  the  decree  was  ordered  to  be  fully  enforced  against  all  neutrals. 

In  the  mean  time  a  negotiation  was  going  on  between  the  com 
missioners  of  England  and  the  United  States.  On  the  30th  of 
December,  1806,  a  treaty  was  signed  settling  amicably,  if  not  satis 
factorily,  all  the  difficulties  between  the  two  nations.  But  Bona 
parte's  Berlin  decree  having  come  to  their  knowledge,  the  British 
commissioners,  in  a  note  delivered  by  order  of  the  King,  declared  to 
the  American  commissioners,  that  if  France  should  execute  that 
decree,  and  the  United  States  acquiesce  in  it,  the  British  govern 
ment  would  hold  themselves  discharged  from  the  treaty  and  issue 
retaliatory  orders  against  neutral  commerce  with  France.  Had  the 
treaty  been  ratified  on  that  condition,  it  would  have  pledged  the 
United  States  to  such  a  co-operation  with  Great  Britain  against 
France,  as  must  have  ended  in  hostilities  with  the  one  and  alliance 
with  the  other.  This  was  the  object  of  England — but  Mr.  Jefferson 
was  determined  if  possible  to  continue  in  his  position  of  neutrality. 
The  treaty  was  received  before  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  the  4th 
March,  1807;  but  he  boldly  suppressed  it,  and  would  not  even  sub 
mit  it  to  the  Senate  for  their  consideration.  He  remembered  too 
well  the  effect  of  Jay's  treaty  on  the  public  mind  to  venture  one 
himself.  A  total  surrender  of  all  her  claims  by  Great  Britain  at  that 
time  would  not  have  been  acceptable,  because  it  would  have  forced 
the  United  States  into  an  alliance  with  England,  contrary  to  the 
popular  sentiment,  which  was  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  French  cause. 
In  times  of  peace  that  treaty  would  have  been  favorably  received, 
but  under  existing  circumstances,  the  President  had  no  intention  of 
suffering  himself  to  be  treaty-foundered  as  his  predecessors  had  been. 
Mr.  Monroe,  the  principal  negotiator,  was  much  offended  at  the 
rejection  or  rather  unceremonious  suppression  of  his  treaty ;  he  had 
hoped  to  gain  much  credit  by  this  act  of  pacification. 

In  the  mean  time  the  affair  of  the  Chesapeake  took  place,  which 


EMBARGO. 


265 


greatly  inflamed  the  public  mind.  A  British  squadron  it  seems  was 
lying  near  the  mouth  of  Hampton  Roads,  in  Lynnhaven  Bay ;  sev 
eral  sailors  deserted  and  took  refuge  on  board  the  American  frigate 
Chesapeake,  then  in  the  port  of  Norfolk,  fitting  out  for  sea,  the  sail 
ors  were  demanded,  but  were  refused  to  be  given  up  on  the  ground 
that  they  were  American  citizens.  As  the  Chesapeake,  on  her  des 
tined  voyage,  passed  out  of  the  Capes,  she  was  followed  by  a  Brit 
ish  vessel  detached  from  the  squadron  for  that  purpose  ;  so  soon  as 
the  Chesapeake  got  out  of  neutral  waters  into  the  ocean,  she  was 
fired  upon,  her  hull  and  rigging  were  much  injured  and  several  per 
sons  were  killed ;  she  was  boarded,  the  sailors  recaptured,  and  some 
of  them  were  put  to  death.  This  gross  outrage,  though  unauthor 
ized  and  disavowed  by  the  government,  had  an  unhappy  effect  on  the 
public  mind  in  the  United  States.  A  «epirit  of  revenge  seized  the 
people  ;  and  although  England  sent  over  a  special  minister  to  settle 
the  difficulty,  a  slight  punctilio  in  the  forms  and  etiquette  of  diplomacy 
was  seized  upon  as  a  pretext  to  prevent  any  advancements  or  ex 
planations  on  the  part  of  the  British  envoy. 

Such  was  the  situation  of  affairs,  when,  on  the  llth  of  November, 
1807,  before  the  Berlin  decree  had  been  enforced  against  American 
vessels,  and  while  the  government  had  reason  to  hope  it  would  not  be 
enforced,  Great  Britain  executed  her  threat  intimated  at  the  signing 
of  the  treaty.  By  an  order  in  council  (with  a  preamble,  charging 
France  with  a  want  of  respect  to  the  laws  of  nations  and  rights  of 
neutrality),  it  was  decreed  that  all  the  ports  and  places  of  France 
and  her  allies,  or  any  other  country  at  war  with  his  majesty,  and  all 
other  ports  and  places  in  Europe  from  which,  although  not  at  war 
with  his  majesty,  the  British  flag  is  excluded,  and  all  ports  and 
places  in  the  colonies  belonging  to  his  majesty's  enemies,  shall  from 
henceforth  be  subject  to  the  same  restrictions,  in  point  of  trade  and 
navigation,  (with  certain  exceptions,)  as  if  the  same  were  actually 
blockaded  by  his  majesty's  naval  forces,  in  the  most  strict  and  vigor 
ous  manner. 

By  these  acts  of  England  and  France,  professing  to  be  acts  of  re 
taliation,  and  not  at  all  in  a  spirit  of  hostility  to  the  United  States, 
the  neutral  commerce  of  America  was  entirely  destroyed.  Not  a  ves 
sel  could  sail  to  Europe  or  to  England,  to  the  vast  colonial  regions  of 
North  and  South  America,  and  the  East  and  West  Indies,  without 

VOL.  i.  12 


LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

being  subject  to  capture  and  condemnation.  The  trade  of  the  whole 
world,  in  fact,  was  interdicted,  and  could  not  be  carried  on  without 
the  risk  of  forfeiture.  Both  belligerents,  however,  had  distinctly  in 
timated  that  if  the  United  States  would  side  with  them,  every  advan 
tage  should  be  given  to  their  commerce.  But  this  is  what  they  did 
not  intend  to  do ;  they  did  not  mean  to  surrender  all  the  advantages 
they  had  hitherto  enjoyed  from  their  neutral  position,  if  it  could  be 
avoided.  To  side  with  England  was  war  with  France — with  France 
was  war  with  England.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  not  prepared  for  either 
alternative.  What  was  to  be  done  ?  Commerce,  left  thus  exposed, 
must  be  ground  into  powder  between  the  upper  and  nether  millstone, 
and  be  scattered  as  chaff  before  the  winds  of  heaven.  The  Presi 
dent  advised  a  dignified  retirement  from  the  ocean,  until  the  storm 
should  have  passed  over.  JFor  the  first  time  since  our  difficulties 
with  foreign  nations,  he  took  the  responsibility  of  advising  a  definite 
course  of  action.  In  a  secret  message  to  Congress,  about  the  19th  of 
December,  1807,  he  recommended  that  an  embargo  should  be  laid  on 
all  American  vessels.  In  a  few  days  a  bill  to  that  effect  was  passed 
into  a  law :  all  American  vessels  were  prohibited,  under  high  penal 
ties,  from  sailing  to  foreign  ports,  or  from  port  to  port  within  the 
United  States,  without  license. 

The  measure  of  an  embargo  was  at  first  advocated  by  Mr.  Ran 
dolph.  He  introduced  the  resolution,  in  accordance  with  the  Presi 
dent's  message ;  but  the  bill  which  was  finally  adopted,  originated  in 
the  Senate  ;  it  contained  provisions  that  he  could  not  approve,  and  he 
opposed  it  on  its  passage.  This  is  given  as  an  instance  of  Mr. 
Randolph's  fickleness  and  want  of  object  in  his  parliamentary  course. 
The  debates  were  conducted  in  secret — in  fact,  the  bill  was  hurried 
through  the  forms  of  legislation,  with  scarcely  any  debate.  We  do 
not  know,  therefore,  what  was  said  on  the  occasion,  and  are  left  to 
infer  the  grounds  of  Mr.  Randolph's  opposition  to  the  bill,  from  his 
general  views  on  the  subject  of  an  embargo.  He  approved  of  such  a 
step  in  the  beginning,  as  a  war  measure.  An  embargo  of  sixty  or 
ninety  days,  collecting  and  protecting  all  our  resources,  followed  by  a 
declaration  of  war,  at  the  end  of  that  period,  against  that  one  of  the 
belligerents  whose  restrictive  course  manifested  the  strongest  spirit  of 
hostility,  would  have  fulfilled  Mr.  Randolph's  idea  of  such  a  meas 
ure.  But  such  was  not  the  intention  of  the  friends  of  the  adminis- 


EMBARGO.  267 

tration,  in  passing  the  act  now  under  consideration.  It  was  designed 
as  a  measure  to  be  permanent  for  an  indefinite  period.  France  and 
England  were  told  that  it  was  not  conceived  in  a  spirit  of  hostility 
to  them,  but  was  merely  intended  as  a  municipal  regulation.  The 
truth  was,  however,  and  they  did  not^fail  to  perceive  it,  that  the  whole 
object  of  withdrawing  our  commerce  from  the  ocean,  was  to  operate 
on  those  two  nations.  It  was  intended  to  starve  France  and  her  de 
pendencies,  and  to  break  England,  unless  they  would  abandon  their 
absurd  pretensions  over  the  rights  of  neutral  nations.  But  when  this 
happy  result  would  take  place,  it  was  impossible  to  tell.  For  a  meas 
ure  of  this  kind  to  come  home  to  the  bosom  and  the  business  of  a 
great  nation,  must  necessarily  take  a  very  long  time.  Indeed,  it  was 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  desired  object  never  could  be  accom 
plished  in  that  way.  The  resources  of  England  and  of  France  were 
too  great  and  too  varied,  to  be  seriously  affected  by  a  suspension  of 
even  the  whole  of  American  commerce.  The  event  proved  what,  it 
would  seem,  a  little  forethought  ought  to  have  anticipated,  After  the 
embargo  had  been  in  operation  for  twelve  months,  those  two  nations 
were  no  nearer  being  forced  into  terms  than  they  were  at  first ;  while 
their  spirit  of  hostility  was  greatly  exasperated. 

But  what  effect  did  the  measure  have  on  affairs  at  home — on  the 
character  of  our  own  people  ?  Here,  it  was  disastrous  in  the  extreme. 
An  embargo  is  the  most  heroic  remedy  that  can  be  applied  to  state 
diseases.  It  must  soon  run  its  course,  and  kill  or  cure  in  a  short 
time.  It  is  like  one  holding  his  breath  to  rush  through  flame  or  me- 
phitic  gas :  the  suspension  may  be  endured  for  a  short  time,  but  the 
lungs  at  length  must  be  inflated,  even  at  the  hazard  of  suffocation. 
Commerce  is  the  breath  that  fills  the  lungs  of  a  nation,  and  a  total 
suspension  of  it  is  like  taking  away  vital  air  from  the  human  system ; 
convulsions  or  death  must  soon  follow.  By  the  embargo,  the  farmer, 
the  merchant,  the  mechanic,  the  capitalist,  the  ship-owner,  the  sailor, 
and  the  day-laborer,  found  themselves  suddenly  arrested  in  their  daily 
business.  Crops  were  left  to  rot  in  the  warehouses ;  ships  in  the 
docks  ;  capital  was  compelled  to  seek  new  channels  for  investment, 
while  labor  was  driven  to  every  shift  to  keep  from  starvation. 

Sailors,  seeing  the  uncertain  continuation  of  this  state  of  things, 
flocked  in  great  numbers  to  the  British  navy.  That  service  which,  in 
former  years,  they  most  dreaded,  necessity  now  compelled  them  to 


268  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

seek  with  avidity.  Smuggling  was  extensively  carried  on  through 
the  whole  extent  of  our  wide-spread  borders ;  the  revenue  was 
greatly  reduced ;  and  the  morals  of  the  people  were  corrupted  by 
the  vast  temptations  held  out  to  evade  the  laws.  It  is  difficult  to  tell 
on  what  classes  of  the  community  this  disastrous  measure  did  not 
operate.  On  the  planting  and  shipping  interest,  perhaps,  it  was  most 
serious.  On  the  one,  it  was  more  immediate  5  on  the  other,  more 
permanent,  in  its  evil  consequences. 

In  cities  and  commercial  regions,  capital  and  labor  are  easily  di 
verted  from  one  employment  to  another.  That  which  to-day  is  profit 
ably  engaged  in  commerce,  may  to-morrow,  if  an  inducement  offers, 
be  as  readily  turned  into  successful  manufactures.  Not  so  with  the 
labor  and  capital  employed  in  agriculture ;  here  the  change  .must  be 
slow.  But  with  the  capital  and  the  kind  of  labor  employed  in  the 
tobacco  and  cotton  planting  of  the  South,  no  change,  to  any  percepti 
ble  degree,  was  possible.  The  Southern  people,  being  wholly  agri 
cultural,  could  live  a  few  years  without  t*he  sale  of  their  crops ;  but 
the  Northern  people,  being  mainly  dependent  on  their  labor  and  com 
merce,  could  not  exist  with  an  embargo  of  long  duration.  Hence  we 
find  a  patient  endurance  of  its  evils  on  the  part  of  the  South,  while  a 
spirit  of  insurrection  pervaded  the  people  of  the  North.  In  this  rest 
less  condition,  much  of  their  capital  and  labor  were  permanently  di 
rected  to  manufactures.  The  bounties  offered  by  a  total  prohibition 
of  foreign  articles,  stimulated  this  branch  of  business  in  a  remarkable 
degree  ;  and  when  the  embargo,  non-intercourse,  and  war  ceased  to 
operate  as  a  bounty,  they  have  had  to  be  sustained  by  heavy  duties 
imposed  on  foreign  commerce,  at  the  expense  of  the  planting  interest 
of  the  South,  which  is  mainly  dependent  on  a  foreign  market  for  the 
sale  of  its  commodities.  Every  dollar  taken  from  commerce,  and  in 
vested  in  manufactures,  was  turning  the  current  from  a  friendly  into 
a  hostile  channel,  to  that  kind  of  agriculture  which  was  dependent  on 
foreign  trade  for  its  prosperity.  The  immediate  effect  of  the  embargo 
was,  to  starve  New  England.  Its  more  permanent  consequence  has 
been,  to  build  it  up  at  the  expense  of  the  planting  interest  of  the 
South.  New  England  has  now  two  sources  of  wealth,  in  her  manu 
factures  and  commerce  ;  while  the  South  have  still  the  only  one  of 
planting  tobacco  and  cotton  on  exhausted  lands,  and  with  a  reduced 
market  for  the  sale  of  her  commodities. 


EMBARGO.  269 

It  was  impossible  for  Mr.  Randolph  to  advocate  such  a  measure. 
He  could  not  foresee  all  the  evils  it  might  entail  on  his  country  ;  but 
his  practical  wisdom,  aided  by  his  deep  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his 
constituents,  taught  him  that  no  good  could  come  out  of  an  embargo 
reduced  to  a  system,  and  made  a  part  of  the  municipal  regulations  of 
the  G-overnment.  As  the  first  step  towards  an  immediate  prepara 
tion  for  war,  he  could  approve  the  act ;  but  as  a  scheme  destined  to 
act  on  foreign  countries,  while  it  was  wasting  the  resources  of  Govern 
ment,  and  consuming  the  substance  of  the  people  at  home,  it  met  his 
decided  disapprobation. 

Twelve  months  had  now  rolled  around,  and  all  parties  had  become 
of  his  opinion.  No  impression  abroad.  Nothing  but  disaster  at 
home.  The  legislature  of  Massachusetts  pronounced  it  an  unconsti 
tutional  act.  They  were  not  far  from  the  truth.  For  a  short  period, 
and  as  a  war  measure,  an  embargo  would  be  constitutional;  but  the 
embargo  acts  adopted  from  time  to  time  by  Congrv  "nd  persisted 
in  for  more  than  a  year,  were  very  far  from  being  clearly  constitutional. 
Massachusetts  pronounced  them  not  only  unconstitutional,  but  unjust 
and  oppressive. 

In  1799,  when  Virginia  interposed  her  State  authority,  and  de 
clared  the  alien  and  sedition  laws  unconstitutional,  Massachusetts 
then  said,  that  the  Supreme  Court  was  alone  competent  to  pronounce 
on  the  constitutionality  of  a  federal  law.  But  she  now  saw  the  error 
and  the  evil  consequences  of  such  a  doctrine.  The  Supreme  Court 
had  declared  the  embargo  acts  to  be  constitutional ;  while  a  sovereign 
State,  crushed  and  ruined  by  the  burdens  they  imposed,  saw  those 
enactments  in  a  very  different  light.  Was  she  to  be  silent,  and 
bear  the  evils  inflicted  by  those  laws,  merely  because  the  courts  had 
pronounced  in  their  favor?  By  no  means.  She  was  one  of  the 
sovereign  parties  who  had  ordained  the  Constitution  as  a  common 
government,  endowing  it  with  certain  general  powers  for  that  pur 
pose  ;  and  surely,  from  the  very  nature  of  things,  she  had  a  right  to 
say  whether  this  or  that  law  transcended  those  delegated  powers 
or  not. 

Whether  Massachusetts  strictly  followed  the  doctrine  of  State 
rights,  as  laid  down  by  Mason,  Jefferson,  and  Madison,  we  pretend 
not  to  say ;  but  we  do  say,  that  she  had  a  right  to  interpose  her  au 
thority,  to  pronounce  the  embargo  laws  unconstitutional,  to  show 


270  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

their  injustice  and  oppression,  and  to  demand  their  repeal  by  instruc 
tions  to  her  own  senators  and  representatives.  Massachusetts  did 
interpose  ;  pronounced  her  repugnance  to  the  law ;  and  her  will  was 
respected. 

Mr.  Jefferson  might  have  taken  a  very  different  course  from  the 
one  pursued  by  him.  He  might  have  said,  This  disaffection  is  only 
found  among  the  federalists ;  they  despise  State  rights,  and  have 
only  resorted  to  them  on  this  occasion  to  abuse  them ;  the  people  of 
Massachusetts  are  favorable  to  my  administration,  and  to  the  ob 
noxious  law ;  my  popularity  and  influence  are  unbounded  in  other 
sections  of  the  Union  ;  by  persevering  a  little  longer,  we  shall  accom 
plish  all  that  was  designed  by  the  embargo ;  I  will  therefore  disre 
gard  the  clamors  of  these  people,  and  persist  in  enforcing  the  law, 
even  should  it  drive  them  to  extremity.  But  Mr.  Jefferson  did  not 
reason  in  this  way.  He  saw  that  a  sovereign  State,  through  her 
regular  legislative  forms,  had  pronounced  against  the  law  ;  it  was  not 
for  him  to  scrutinize  the  character  and  composition  of  that  legisla 
ture  ;  it  was  enough  for  him  to  know,  that  a  State  had  solemnly  de 
clared  the  law  unconstitutional,  unjust,  and  oppressive.  When,  in 
addition,  he  was  told  by  a  distinguished  statesman  from  Massachu 
setts,  that  a  longer  persistence  might  endanger  the  integrity  of  the 
Union,  he  unhesitatingly  acquiesced  in  a  repeal  of  the  most  important 
and  favored  measure  of  his  administration. 

What  might  have  been  the  consequences  if  Massachusetts  had 
been  driven  to  extremities,  we  will  not  conjecture — we  do  not  reason 
from  extreme  cases.  All  we  have  to  say  is,  that  so  long  as  the  States 
have  the  independence  to  maintain  those  rights  guaranteed  to  them 
by  the  Constitution,  and  that  so  long  as  there  is  patriotism  and 
virtue  in  the  administration  of  the  Federal  Government,  there  will 
never  be  the  necessity  of  driving  the  States  into  those  extreme 
measures  of  secession  or  nullification. 


GTTNBOATS.  271 

CHAPTEE    XXXIV 

GUNBOATS. 

THE  question  may  be  asked  here,  Why  did  Mr.  Jefferson  make  so 
little  preparation  for  a  war  which,  sooner  or  later,  seemed  to  be  inevi 
table  ?  To  understand  his  policy,  we  must  first  know  the  political 
principles  that  governed  his  conduct.  He  came  into  power  as  the 
leader  of  the  republican  State-Rights  party.  During  the  first  four 
years  of  his  administration,  he  applied  the  few  simple  and  abste- 
mious  doctrines  of  that  party  most  successfully  in  the  management 
of  our  domestic  affairs.  But  now  a  new  and  untried  scene  was  opened 
before  him.  Never  were  the  embarrassments  of  any  government  in 
regard  to  foreign  powers  more  intricate  and  perplexing;  and,  to 
increase  his  difficulties,  he  had  to  deal  with  the  most  powerful  nations 
on  earth,  who,  in  their  hostility  to  each  other,  paid  no  respect  to  the 
laws  of  nations  or  the  rights  of  neutrality.  The  Constitution  was 
ordained  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  regulating  commerce,  foreign  and 
domestic,  and  establishing  a  common  rule  of  action  in  our  intercourse 
with  other  countries.  While  the  States  at  home  preserved  their  poli 
tical  existence,  retained  much  of  their  original  sovereignty,  were  dis 
tinct,  variant,  and  even  hostile  in  some  of  their  domestic  interests,  to 
the  world  abroad  they  presented  but  one  front.  -At  home  each  pur 
sued  its  own  policy,  developed  its  own  internal  resources,  and  was 
unconscious  of  the  existence  of  a  common  government,  save  in  the 
negative  blessing  that  it  bestowed  upon  them  of  peace  with  each  other 
and  with  the  world.  They  literally  fulfilled  the  spirit  of  their  national 
motto,  E  pluriJbus  unum — at  home  many,  abroad  one.  It  is  obvious 
that  peace  must  be  an  essential  element  in  the  successful  operation 
of  such  a  complicated  system  of  government.  War  of  whatever  kind, 
especially  an  aggressive  war,  whether  by  land  or  sea,  must  destroy 
its  equilibrium,  and  precipitate  all  its  movements  on  the  common  cen 
tre,  which,  by  an  intense  over-action,  must  finally  absorb  all  counter 
vailing  influences.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  thoroughly  penetrated  with 
the  true  spirit  of  our  Constitution;  so  was  John  Randolph.  These 
profound  statesmen  thought  alike  on  that  subject :  they  differed  as  to 


272  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

certain  measures  of  policy,  but  not  at  all  in  their  principles.  They 
both  sought  the  peace  of  the  country,  not  only  as  the  best  condition 
for  developing  its  resources,  but  as  an  essential  means  for  preserving 
the  purity  of  its  institutions.  Neither  could  look  with  complacency 
on  a  standing  army  or  a  large  naval  establishment.  They  did  not  even 
consider  them  as  essential  in  the  present  emergency,  more  imminent, 
perhaps,  than  any  that  could  possibly  occur  at  a  future  period. 

Negotiation  having  failed,  and  both  belligerents  still  continuing 
to  plunder  our  commerce,  Mr.  Jefferson  recommended,  as  the  only 
remedy,  a  total  abandonment  of  the  ocean.  Mr.  Randolph's  advice 
was  to  arm  the  merchant  marine,  and  let  them  go  forth  and  defend 
themselves  in  the  highways  of  a  lawful  commerce.  As  the  means  of 
home  defence,  Jefferson  recommended  the  construction  and  equip 
ment  of  gunboats,  in  numbers  sufficient  to  protect  the  harbors  and 
seaports  from  sudden  invasion.  Randolph  advised  to  arm  the  mili 
tia,  put  a  weapon  in  the  hands  of  every  yeoman  of  the  land,  and  fur 
nish  the  towns  and  seaports  with  a  heavy  train  of  artillery  for  their 
defence. 

In  all  this  we  perceive  but  one  object — a  defence  of  the  natal  soil 
(natale  solum)  by  the  people  themselves,  and  a  total  abstinence  from 
all  aggression.  "  Pour  out  your  blood,"  said  these  wise  statesmen  to 
the  people ;  "  pour  out  your  blood  in  defence  of  your  borders ;  but 
shed  not  a  drop  beyond."  Happy  for  the  country  could  this  advice 
have  always  beeji  followed  !  As  Randolph  foresaw  and  predicted, 
we  came  out  of  the  war  with  Great  Britain  without  a  constitution  ; 
mainly  to  his  exertions  in  after  years  are  we  indebted  for  its  restora 
tion.  The  late  war  with  Mexico  has  engendered  a  spirit  of  aggres 
sion  and  of  conquest  among  the  people,  and  has  taught  the  ambitious, 
aspiring  men  of  the  country,  that  military  fame  achieved  in  an  hour 
is  worth  more  than  the  solid  reputation  of  a  statesman  acquired  by 
long  years  of  labor  and  self-sacrifice.  Where  these  things  are  to  end 
it  does  not  require  much  sagacity  to  foresee.  Let  the  people  take 
warning  in  time,  and  give  heed  to  the  counsel  of  their  wisest  states 
men  ;  let  them  dismiss  their  army  and  their  navy,  relieve  the  coun 
try  of  those  burthensome  and  dangerous  accompaniments  of  a  mili 
tary  government,  and  trust  to  negotiation,  justice,  and  their  own  ener 
gies  and  resources  for  defence.  What  was  visionary  and  impracti 
cable  in  tfce  warlike  days  of  Jefferson,  is  now  wholly  reasonable  and 


GUNBOATS.  273 

proper.  What  gunboats  could  not  do,  steam  vessels  can  fully  accom 
plish.  For  defence  there  is  no  need  of  a  navy ;  for  aggressive  war, 
we  trust  the  day  may  never  come  when  it  shall  be  called  into  requi 
sition. 

There  was  one  subject  on  which  Randolph  and  Jefferson  differed 
so  essentially  that  it  would  seem  to  indicate  a  more  radical  diver 
gency  of  principles  than  we  are  willing  to  admit  existed  between 
them.  They  both  sincerely  labored  to  preserve  a  strict  neutrality 
between  the  great  belligerents  of  Europe ;  but  when  driven  to  ex 
tremity,  and  forced  to  choose  between  the  one  and  the  other,  Jeffer 
son  would  have  selected  France  as  a  friend,  whilst  Randolph  would 
have  chosen  England.  In  the  days  of  John  Adams  these  predilec 
tions  would  have  marked  their  political  characters  as  being  essentially 
different  on  all  the  great  principles  of  government.  But  Randolph 
contended  that  since  that  day  circumstances  had  greatly  altered. 
France  was  then  a  free  republic,  fighting  for  the  liberties  of  Europe, 
while  England  was  in  coalition  with  the  old  monarchies  to  destroy 
them.  France  was  now  a  military  despotism,  grasping  at  the  empire 
of  the  world,  while  England  was  the  only  barrier  in  the  way  of  uni 
versal  conquest.  To  suffer  old  partialities  and  prejudices  to  influence 
their  conduct  in  such  a  state  of  affairs,  he  thought,  was  the  height  of 
folly  and  madness.  He  had  no  greater  friendship  for  England  and 
her  institutions  than  before ;  but  she  had  become  essential  for  his 
own  protection,  and  he  was  willing  to  use  her  for  that  purpose.  These 
views  seem  not  only  to  be  plausible,  but  just.  A  practical  states 
man,  at  that  time,  looking  at  events  as  they  transpired  around  him, 
and  gazing  on  the  rapid  strides  of  Napoleon  towards  universal  con 
quest,  would  have  coincided  with  Mr.  Randolph — have  exclaimed 
with  him  that  it  was  poor  consolation  to  reflect  that  we  were  to  be 
the  last  to  be  devoured,  and  have  taken  refuge  behind  the  floating 
batteries  of  England  as  the  last  retreat  to  the  expiring  liberties  of  the 
world.  But  Thomas  Jefferson  did  not  view  the  subject  in  this  prac 
tical  way  :  he  was  the  profound  philosopher  that  looked  at  political 
causes  and  consequences  in  their  radical  and  essential  relations  to 
each  other,  and  the  bold  pioneer  that  dared  to  sacrifice  what  seemed 
to  be  the  present  interest  to  the  future  and  more  permanent  welfare 
of  his  country. 

In  his  judgment  the  great  causes  that  produced  the  marvellous 

VOL.  i.  12* 


274  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

events  then  daily  transpiring  on  the  theatre  of  Europe,  had  not 
changed ;  it  was  still  the  spirit  of  democracy  contending  against  the 
old  feudal  aristocracy,  which  had  so  long  oppressed  and  enslaved  the 
nations.  The  crusade  of  Bonaparte,  aside  from  his  own  personal 
ambition,  had  no  other  end  but  the  overthrow  of  those  rotten  dynas- 
ties  that  sat  like  a  leaden  weight  on  the  hearts  of  the  people ;  and  a 
revival  of  those  old  memories  of  privileges  and  franchises  that  lay 
buried  and  forgotten  beneath  the  rubbish  and  worthless  trivialities  of 
a  profligate  court  and  a  heartless  monarchy. 

To  repress  the  numerous  factions  that  were  tearing  her  vitals 
within,  and  to  beat  back  the  myrmidons  of  power  that  assailed  her 
from  without,  it  was  necessary  that  France  should  concentrate  all 
her  energies  in  the  hands  of  a  military  despot.     The  times  called  for 
a  dictator.     But  Napoleon  himself  was  a  phenomenon  that  must 
soon  pass  away ;  his  long  existence  was  incompatible  with  the  just 
order  of  things ;  his  downfall  must  be  followed  by  a  restoration  of  the 
Bourbons,  or  by  a  revival  of  the  Republic,  chastened  and  purified  by 
the  ordeal  through  which  she  had  passed.    Bonaparte  saw  to  the  root 
of  the  matter  when  he  said,  that  in  a  few  years  Europe  must  be  Re 
publican  or  Cossack.     Jefferson  perceived  and  acted  on  this  profound 
principle  long  before  Bonaparte  gave  utterance  to  it.     He  knew  well 
that  England  was  the  same  now  that  she  was  in  the  days  of  the  coa 
lition  ;  her  allies  were  gone,  because  the  arms  of  France  and  the 
insurrection  of  their  own  subjects  had  overturned  their  power  ;  the 
French  evil  had  spread  over  Europe,  and  her  battle  was  still  against 
that ;  the  right  of  the  people  to  pull  down  and  to  build  up  dynasties 
— the  doctrine  that  governments  belong  to  the  people  and  not  the 
people  to  governments,  and  that  they  can  alter  or  abolish  them  at 
pleasure,  were  principles  that  she  fought  against  and  labored  to  re 
press  and  to  destroy.     Had  she  succeeded  in  overturning  the  power 
of  Napoleon,  she  would  have  forced  on  the  nations  of  Europe,  by  vir 
tue  of  her  cherished  doctrine  of  legitimacy,  the  worst  of  all  govern 
ments — a  restoration  of  the  old  monarchies  claiming  to  rule,  not  by 
the  will  of  the  people,  but  by  the  divine  right  of  kings.     It  was  not 
in  the  nature  of  Thomas  Jefferson  to  aid  in  the  remotest  degree  in 
the  accomplishment  of  such  an  end.     Besides  all  this,  he  knew  there 
was  no  sympathy  between  the  democracy  of  America  and  the  aris 
tocracy  of  England ;  the  one  was  progressive,  the  other  conservative ; 


GUNBOATS.  275 

the  one  readily  embraced  every  measure  that  tended  to  elevate  and 
to  improve  the  masses  of  mankind,  the  other  repressed  every  propo 
sition  that  contemplated  a  change  in  the  present  order  of  things ;  the 
one  held  that  government  must  spring  from  the  will  of  the  people, 
and  is  but  an  agent  in  the  hands  of  their  representatives  for  the  good 
of  the  whole;  the  other  that  all  wealth  and  power  belong  to  the 
few,  and  government  but  an  instrument  to  preserve  and  perpetuate 
their  authority.  Any  coalition  or  union  between  elements  so  repug 
nant  would  have  produced  evil  rather  than  good  ;  it  would  have  shed 
a  malign  influence  on  the  one  hand,  while  on  the  other  the  contact 
would  have  been  regarded  as  a  vile  contamination.  Jefferson  was 
the  embodiment  of  American  democracy ;  the  masses  of  the  people 
felt  that  he  gave  form  and  expression  to  the  great  sentiments  that 
lay  confused  and  voiceless  in  their  own  bosoms,  and  they  knew  that 
he  would  be  faithful  in  following  the  impulses  of  that  mighty  concen 
tration  of  a  people's  will  in  his  own  person :  hence  his  influence  over 
the  public  mind — his  almost  despotic  sway  over  the  legislation  of  the 
country.  In  1806,  a  subservient  legislature,  in  obedience  to  his 
secret  wishes,  voted  him  money  without  restriction  to  negotiate  with 
Spain  and  France,  when  his  public  messages  declared  that  negotiation 
was  at  an. end,  and  breathed  the  strongest  spirit  of  resistance.  In 
1807  his  commissioners,  his  favorite  negotiator,  Monroe,  being  one 
of  them,  had  made  a  treaty  with  England,  as  favorable  as  could  be 
expected  at  that  time,  but  he  put  it  in  his  pocket  and  refused  to  sub 
mit  it  to  the  consideration  of  that  branch  of  the  government  which 
had  a  right  and  might  have  advised  its  ratification.  When  Great 
Britain  sent  a  special  envoy  to  make  reparation  for  the  unauthorized 
attack  on  the  Chesapeake,  he  stood  on  an  untenable  point  of  etiquette, 
refused  to  receive  or  even  to  hear  any  propositions  on  that  subject, 
and  suffered  the  public  mind  to  be  inflamed  by  an  unnecessary  delay 
of  adjustment.  Before  he  had  any  official  information  of  the  orders 
in  council,  issued  in  retaliation  to  the  Berlin  decree,  on  the  mere 
authority  of  newspaper  reports,  he  sent  a  secret  message  to  Congress 
advising  an  embargo :  in  silence  and  in  haste  his  will  was  obeyed — 
a  sudden  pause  was  given  to  business — at  his  command  the  people 
stood  still,  and  let  fall  from  their  hands  the  implements  of  trade  and 
the  means  of  their  subsistence.  This  measure,  whether  so  intended 
or  not,  coincided  with  the  views  of  Napoleon :  while  it  could  affect 


276  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

France  but  slightly,  it  formed  an  essential  part  of  that  great  conti 
nental  system  that  had  for  its  object  the  subjugation  of  England  by 
a  destruction  of  her  commerce  and  manufactures. 

Bonaparte  approved,  and  the  indomitable  Saxon  spirit  of  England 
refused  to  yield :  the  Sire  recoil  was  most  severely  felt  at  home,  but  the 
patriotism  of  the  people  increased  with  the  disasters  inflicted  upon 
them  ;  and  they  continued  to  follow  their  bold  leader  with  a  fortitude 
and  intrepidity  that  would  have  persevered  to  the  bitter  end,  had  he 
not  said,  enough  !  and  acquiesced  in  the  repeal  of  his  favorite  mea 
sure.  Jefferson  stood  to  the  people  of  America  as  Napoleon  to  the 
people  of  France — he  embodied  the  will  of  a  free  and  enlightened 
republic,  devoted  to  the  arts  of  peace,  and  governed  by  laws  and  a 
written  constitution ;  Napoleon  was  the  dread  symbol  of  a  wild 
democracy,  sprung  from  the  bosom  of  a  volcano,  chaotic  in  all  its 
fiery  elements,  and  armed  with  firebrands  to  burn  up  the  dross  and 
stubble  of  the  worn-out  and  rotten  monarchies  that  surrounded  it ;  both 
were  invincible,  so  long  as  they  continued  to  stand  in  the  focus,  and  to 
reflect  the  mighty  energies  that  were  concentrated  in  their  own  person. 
'  We  say,  then,  that  the  policy  of  Jefferson,  viewed  by  a  practical 
statesman,  would  seem  to  be  unwise.  It  inflicted  many  evils  on  the 
country  at  the  time,  and  entailed  a  lasting  injury  on  the  planting 
interests  of  the  South  :  but  it  saved  the  principles  of  democracy ;  and 
it  saved  the  country,  if  not  from  an  actual  participation  in  the  Con 
gress  of  Vienna,  it  saved  them  from  a  humiliating  acquiescence  in 
the  holy  alliance  of  despots,  confederated  under  a  solemn  oath  to 
smother  and  extinguish  every  sentiment  of  liberty  that  might  dare 
to  breathe  its  existence  in  the  bosoms  of  their  oppressed  and  de 
graded  subjects. 


CHAPTEE    XXXV. 

JAMES  MADISON — PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION. 

MR.  RANDOLPH  was  opposed  to  the  elevation  of  James  Madison  to 
the  presidency.  His  objections  extended  back  to  an  early  period  in 
the  political  history  of  that  gentleman.  As  we  have  said,  the  coun- 


JAMES  MADISON.  277 

try  is  indebted  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Madison  for  their  present  Con 
stitution.  His  great  labors  and  untiring  zeal,  both  in  the  Federal 
convention  that  framed  it,  and  the  Virginia  convention  that  ratified 
it,  overcame  every  obstacle,  and  finally  presented  to  the  people  a  form 
of  government  to  strengthen  and  consolidate  their  union.  But  the 
happy  blending  of  national  and  federal  features  in  the  constitution, 
whereby  the  States  have  preserved  their  independence,  and  much  of 
their  sovereignty,  was  not  the  conception  of  Mr.  Madison.  He 
thought  the  States  ought  not  to  be  entirely  obliterated  ;  but  until  the 
plan  of  Greorge  Mason  was  developed,  he  did  not  understand  how  their 
existence  could  be  made  compatible  with  a  common  central  govern 
ment,  operating  alike  on  all  the  people.  He  did  not  cordially  acqui 
esce  in  the  States-rights  doctrine  ingrafted  on  the  Constitution.  In 
all  the  debates  in  both  conventions,  he  is  generally  found  opposed  to 
the  views  of  Mr.  Mason.  And  it  was  charged  against  him,  that  in 
the  essays  which  he  wrote,  in  conjunction  with  Jay  and  Hamilton, 
with  the  view  of  recommending  the  Constitution  to  the  people,  he  ad 
vocated,  with  as  much  earnestness  as  those  avowed  centralists,  a 
strong  consolidated  government.  When  party  excitement  grew  very 
violent,  in  the  times  of  the  whisky  insurrection,  and  of  Jay's  treaty, 
when  Randolph  was  driven,  in  disgrace,  from  the  Cabinet,  and  Mon 
roe  recalled,  under  sentiments  of  strong  displeasure,  Mr.  Madison 
was  charged  with  having  abandoned  his  post  on  the  floor  of  Con 
gress,  and  seeking  ease  and  personal  safety  in  retirement.  In  the 
Virginia  legislature  it  was  said  he  opposed  the  general  ticket  system, 
which  was  adopted  with  the  view  of  casting  the  whole  vote  of  the 
State  in  favor  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  at  the  approaching  election,  and  with 
out  which  he  would  have  been  defeated.  But  the  weightiest  charge 
of  all  was  that  preferred  by  John  Randolph,  on  the  floor  of  Congress. 
The  reader  is  already  familiar  with  that  subject.  Randolph  declared 
that  the  Secretary  of  State,  in  a  conversation  with  him,  expressed  his 
willingness  to  buy  peace  with  Spain,  by  paying  tribute  to  France  ; 
and  he  averred  that,  on  the  expression  of  such  pusillanimous  senti 
ments,  his  confidence,  which  at  no  time  was  very  great,  had  entirely 
vanished.  Mr.  Madison,  it  was  also  said,  was  a  mere  closet  philoso 
pher — an  able  logician,  but  a  weak  and  timid  statesman.  The  times 
required  a  man  of  nerve  and  energy.  James  Monroe  was  held  up  by 
his  friends,  as  combining,  more  than  any  other  man,  all  the  qualities 


278  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

needed  for  the  present  exigency.  A  number  of  the  republican  mem 
bers  of  Congress  met  together  in  caucus,  and  nominated  Mr.  Madison 
for  the  presidency.  John  Randolph  and  some  sixteen  or  seventeen 
others,  denounced  this  nomination,  and  protested  against  the  right  of 
members  of  Congress  to  make  it.  They  said  that  such  a  plan  had 
been  resorted  to  on  a  former  occasion,  in  order  to  concentrate  the 
votes  of  the  republican  party  on  one  candidate,  to  prevent  their  de 
feat  by  the  federalists ;  but  there  was  no  necessity  for  that  concert 
of  action  now ;  the  federalists,  as  a  party,  had  been  annihilated,  had 
no  intention  of  bringing  out  a  candidate  ;  and  that  whoever  was  elected 
must  be  a  republican.  They  contended,  therefore,  that  each  should 
have  a  fair  field,  and  that  no  advantage  should  be  given  to  either  by 
a  resort  to  party  machinery.  Shortly  after  this,  Mr.  Monroe  was  no 
minated  by  a  convention  in  Virginia,  called  together  from  the  differ 
ent  counties  of  the  State.  Thus  we  see  two  candidates  from  the  same 
state,  for  the  highest  office  within  the  gift  of  the  people  ;  both  pro 
fessed  the  same  political  principles,  each  had  high  claims  to  the  con 
fidence  and  support  of  their  country,  and  each  was  put  forward  and 
sustained  by  a  fraction  of  the  same  party.  We  may  well  imagine  the 
heart-burnings  and  the  angry  feelings  excited  by  such  a  contest. 
The  ablest  men  in  the  State  employed  their  talents  in  writing  for  the 
newspapers.  Their  essays,  for  the  most  part,  were  elaborate,  well 
written,  and  not  unfrequently  filled  with  wit,  ridicule,  irony,  and  the 
bitterest  sarcasm,  and  too  frequently  did  they  descend  to  the  most 
direct  and  pointed  personalities.  Mr.  Madison  was  the  candidate  of 
the  administration — Monroe  of  the  Tirtium  Quids}  as  they  were 
called.  John  Randolph  was  the  master-spirit  of  this  third  party. 
He  of  course  came  in  for  his  full  share  of  abuse.  Even  ridicule  and 
doggerel  rhyme  were  resorted  to  as  the  means  of  bringing  his  name 
into  disrepute. 

"  Thou  art  a  pretty  little  speaker,  John— 
Though  some  there  are  who  think  you've  spoke  too  long ; 
And  even  call,  sweet  sir,  your  tongue  a  bell, 
That  ding-dong,  dong-ding,  tolls  away  ! 
Yet  mind  not  what  such  '  ragamuffins'  say, 
Roar  still  'gainst  '  back-stairs  influence,'  I  pray, 
And  lash  '  the  pages  of  the  water-closet'  well ; 
To  '  dust  and  ashes'  pray  thee  grind  'em, 
Though  I'm  told  'twould  puzzle  you  to  find  'em. 


JAMES  MADISON.  279 

"But  John,  like  water,  thou  must  find  thy  '  level,' 
Those  horn-book  politicians  are  the  devil, 
Some  how  or  other  they've  so  pleased  the  nation ; 
For  spite  of  '  cobweb  theories'  and  '  sharks,' 
Russels,  Garnetts,  Clays  and  Clarks, 
'  Strait-jackets,'  '  water  gruel,'  and  '  depletion,' 
Yes,  yes,  in  spite  of  all  those  curious  things, 
The  name  of  each  with  glory  around  us  rings, 
Whilst  thou  of  even  patriotism  doubted, 
.      Art  on  all  hands  detested— laughed  at—'  scouted,' 
Nay,  many  think  (though  this  perhaps  is  scandal,) 
That  soon  you'll  nothing  be  but  plain  Jack  R dal." 

Many  a  volley  was  aimed  at  his  head,  and  many  a  valiant  pen 
was  wielded  in  his  defence.  He  sometimes  descended  into  the  lists 
himself,  and  under  a  borrowed  name  hurled  his  polished  and  effective 
shafts  against  the  exposed  and  vulnerable  points  of  his  adversaries. 
Many  of  the  most  distingushed  men  of  the  State  were  on  his  side  of 
the  question  ;  indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  most  of  the  young  men  of 
talents  and  independence  of  character  were  his  admirers  and  follow 
ers.  But  it  soon  became  manifest  that  Mr.  Monroe  would  get  no 
support  out  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  that  the  contest  would  be 
between  Mr.  Madison  and  DeWitt  Clinton,  of  New-York.  Many  of 
the  best  friends  of  Mr.  Monroe  were  unwilling  to  contribute  to  the 
election  of  Clinton,  by  a  loss  of  the  State  of  Virginia  to  his  opponent ; 
they  therefore  determined,  however  reluctantly,  to  cast  their  votes  for 
Mr.  Madison  ;  so  that  when  the  election  came  on,  the  vote  for  Mon 
roe  was  very  thin.  It  would  seem  that  the  Tirtium  Quids,  with  all 
their  genius,  eloquence,  and  fine  writing,  had  made  no  impression  on 
the  people.  We  can  well  conceive  how  this  exposure  of  their  weak 
ness  operated  on  the  nerves  of  those  politicians  who  love  always  to 
be  found  on  the  side  of  the  majority.  One  by  one  they  began  to  re 
cant  their  heresies,  and  to  fall  into  the  ranks  of  the  administration. 
Mr.  Monroe  became  a  candidate  for  the  legislature  in  the  county  of 
Albemarle :  he  was  interrogated  on  the  subject,  and  professed  him 
self  friendly  to  the  new  dynasty ;  was  elected ;  appointed  Governor 
of  the  State ;  and  in  due  time  was  placed  by  Mr.  Madison  in  his 
Cabinet. 

Very  soon  Randolph  was  left  with  only  a  few  personal  and  devo 
ted  friends  to  stand  by  him.  Those  who  valued  consistency  more 


280  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

than  office,  and  who  regarded  it  as  an  act  of  dishonor  to  abandon  a 
friend  in  his  hour  of  need,  still  adhered  to  him  ;  but  the  majority  of 
politicians,  who  look  only  to  the  loaves  and  fishes,  had  no  hesitation  in 
making  their  escape  from  what  they  conceived  to  be  a  falling  house. 
This  "  ratting,"  as  he  called  it,  Mr.  Randolph  never  forgot  nor  for 
gave.  His  pride  was  cut  to  the  quick  ;  his  disgust  was  unbounded  j 
and  to  the  events  of  this  period  may  be  traced  much  of  that  bitter 
ness  of  feeling  which  he  manifested  towards  certain  individuals  in 
after  life.  Never  did  he  suffer  an  occasion  to  pass  that  he  did  not 
make  them  feel,  by  some  cutting  allusion,  his  deep  indignation.  This 
seemed  to  the  world  a  wanton  indulgence  of  a  vile,  cruel,  and  sarcas 
tic  temper :  but  the  parties  themselves  understood  and  keenly  felt 
the  meaning  of  his  allusions  ;  and  well  did  they  repay  his  disgust  and 
contempt,  by  a  most  cordial  hatred. 

"Why  have  you  not  gone  to  Philadelphia?"  says  one  of  his  flat 
terers,  writing  to  him  about  this  time — "  every  one  there  whose  atten 
tion  could  confer  either  pleasure  or  honor  was  prepared  for  your 
reception.  The  learning,  the  genius,  and  the  eloquence  of  the  city, 
with  all  its  train  of  social  manners,  wit,  beauty,  gayety  and  inno 
cence,  were  prepared  to  spread  for  you  a  rich  and  varied  feast  of 
enjoyment.  You  have  ceased  to  be  the  head  of  a  great  triumphant 
party,  but,  rely  upon  it,  you  are  at  the  head  of  the  taste,  feeling  and 
honor  of  the  nation." 

Yet  this  man  in  a  few  years  glided  into  the  ranks  of  the  admin 
istration — became  the  secret  reviler  of  one  on  whom  he  had  bestow 
ed  the  grossest  adulation  :  and  finally  supported  all  the  Federal 
measures  of  Monroe  and  John  Quincy  Adams  ;  bank,  tariff,  inter 
nal  improvements,  and  whatever  else  that  tended  to  produce  a 
strong,  magnificent,  corrupt,  and  consolidated  government.  It  is 
not  surprising  that  a  man  of  Mr.  Randolph's  temper,  exasperated  as 
it  had  been  by  so  many  instances  of  the  same  kind,  could  not  look 
with  complacency  on  such  characters  ;  but  he  visited  as  a  crime  on 
the  head  of  the  offender  that  which  he  should  have  forgiven  as  a 
weakness  of  our  common  nature.  He  understood  mankind  too  well 
not  to  have  known  the  certain  consequences  of  defeat ;  the  abdica 
ting  Emperor  at  Fontainebleau,  when  abandoned  by  all  those  whom 
he  had  made  marshals  and  princes,  might  have  told  him  that  mis 
fortune  is  like  a  nipping  frost,  that  scatters  the  leaves  and  the 


JAMES  MADISON.  281 

blossoms,  and  leaves  bare  the  naked  limbs  to  battle  alone  with  the 
rude  blasts  of  winter. 

The  following  extract  taken  from  an  unpublished  essay,  dated 
August  31,  1808,  will  throw  much  light  on  the  excited  and  angry 
nature  of  the  controversy  carried  on  at  that  time  between  the  fol 
lowers  of  John  Randolph  and  the  adherents  of  Mr.  Madison  : 

"  I  addressed  you  formerly  with  a  view  to  the  approaching  presi 
dential  election  ;  but  before  I  could  recover  from  the  repulse  which 
I  met  in  my  first  attempt  to  approach  the  people,  it  was  already  too 
late.  Every  man  had  already  chosen  his  part  in  that  drama — many 
were  already  in  imagination  tricked  out  in  the  robes  of  office  in 
which  they  were  to  assist  at  the  installation  of  Mr.  Madison  ;  and, 
so  far  as  it  could  depend  upon  the  votes  of  Virginia,  that  election 
was  already  decided.  The  partisans  of  government  have  ceased 
to  bestow  their  attention  upon  this  subject,  and  have  already  turned 
it  to  another.  I  mean  the  election  of  a  representative  from  the 
counties  of  Cumberland,  &c.  The  stormy  rage  of  the  presidential 
contest  has  been  no  sooner  hushed,  than  both  the  Argus  and  the 
Enquirer  have^,  at  once,  turned  their  batteries  against  the  gentleman 
who  at  present  represents  that  district.  Writers,  scarcely  worthy  to  be 
noticed,  and  whom  it  would  be  a  disgrace  to  answer,  have  hastened 
to  engage  in  the  meritorious  service  of  removing  the  only  eye  that 
watches  over  the  administration.  Looking  forward  to  the  election 
of  Mr.  Madison,  they  no  doubt  anticipate  much  from  this  at 
tempting  to  destroy  the  man,  before  whom,  in  spite  of  all  the  pomp 
of  office,  he  would  be  compelled  to  feel  the  intrinsic  littleness  of  his 
character.  Unworthy  as  their  childish  arguments  and  groundless 
assertions  are  of  the  poor  respect  of  refutation  and  contradiction, 
they  at  least  remind  us  of  the  proverbial  truth,  '  that  straws  show 
the  course  of  the  wind ;'  and  if  I  mistake  them  not,  it  is  not  the 
only  occasion  on  which  they  have  displayed  the  properties  of  the 
weathercock.  Though  their  arguments  prove  nothing,  their  attempts 
at  argument  prove  much.  They  show  the  real  offence  of  Mr.  R., 
they  show  the  real  causes  of  the  clamor  which  is  raised  against  him. 
It  is  the  usual  fate  of  fools  and  knaves  that  the  weapons  which  they 
pretend  to  wield,  recoil  upon  their  own  heads.  These  men  have 
endeavored  to  detract  from  the  merit  of  Mr.  R.,  but  they  have 
exposed  their  own  weakness  ;  they  have  evinced  the  irreconcileable 


282  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

malignity  of  themselves  and  their  party  towards  him,  at  the  same 
time  that  they  have  stated  objections,  which,  if  true  and  well  found 
ed,  as  they  are  false  and  groundless,  would  be  utterly  inadequate  to 
the  production  of  such  an  effect ;  and  they  compel  us  to  believe 
that  there  is  some  other  secret  cause  or  motive  for  their  antipathy 
to  that  gentleman,  which  is  not  revealed,  only  because  it  will  not 
bear  the  light.  Mr.  R's  constituents  have  been  much  at  a  loss  to 
know  wherefore  the  whole  force  of  the  government  has  been  exerted 
to  provide  them  a  representative,  some  worthy  associate  of  John 
Love  and  John  Dawson.  They  feel  indeed  the  importance  of  his 
past  services,  and  they  see  in  them  some  evidence  of  abilities  not  to 
be  despised.  They  perceive  also  that  he  differs  from  the  adminis 
tration  on  some  points.  They  are  even  told  by  the  newspapers  that 
he  is  opposed  to  them  on  all,  but  at  the  same  time  they  are  assur 
ed,  that  he  stands  alone  in  this  opposition,  without  a  party,  even 
without  personal  friends,  and  that  there  is  more  to  pity  in  his  infat 
uation  than  to  dread  from  this  hostility.  Why  then  all  this  strug 
gle,  this  ceaseless  anxiety  ?  and  (to  use  a  quotation  of  your  own  Mr. 
Ritchie,)  this  'ocean  into  tempest  wrought  to  drown  a  fly?'  Is 
the  spirit  of  federalism  then  extinct ;  is  that  monster  no  more, 
that  nothing  remains  but  to  turn  the  whole  force  of  the  administra 
tion  to  the  destruction  of  such  an  insect,  as  they  would  represent 
Mr.  Randolph  ?  This  surely  is  not  the  case.  The  federal  represen 
tation  of  Connecticut  yet  remains  entire.  Its  banners  are  yet  dis 
played,  and  those  who  yesterday  deserted,  are,  to-day,  returning  to 
them.  The  mighty  State  of  Massachusetts,  which  of  late  the  admin 
istration  so  proudly  numbered  among  their  supporters,  has  already 
repented  of  her  conversion  ;  while  the  Vermontese  are  newly  bap 
tized  to  the  federal  faith  in  the  blood  of  their  countrymen.  Perhaps 
indeed  they  balance  all  this  with  the  conversion  of  Mr.  J.  Q.  Adams, 
and  by  the  same  political  arithmetic,  which  teaches  them  that  the 
downfall  of  Mr.  Randolph  is  of  more  importance  than  the  defeat  of 
the  federalists,  they  think  the  acquisition  of  this  gentleman  an 
ample  compensation  for  the  loss  of  two  entire  States.  No  doubt- 
indeed  they  augur  well  from  it,  no  doubt  they  regard  it  as  an  all- 
sufficient  evidence  of  Mr.  Adams's  conviction  of  the  stability  of 
their  power.  Ten  years  ago  they  would  have  told  you  that  this 
gentleman  knew,  as  well  as  any  one,  who  kept  the  key  of  the  ex- 


JAMES  MADISON.  283 

chequer,  and  it  would  be  strange  indeed,  if,  when  his  father  held 
it  so  long,  he  had  not  found  out  the  value  of  the  coin.  They  per 
haps  remember  too,  that  about  that  time  he  was  talked  of  as  the 
contemplated  successor  to  the  crown  of  these  realms,  and  they  pos 
sibly  regard  his  accession  to  their  party  as  an  implied  relinquishment 
of  his  title,  in  favor  of  the  hopeful  progeny  of  our  modern  Livia. 
I  would  warn  them,  however,  not  to  build  too  much  upon  that. 
They  should  rather  infer  from  the  example  of  Spain,  that  the  mino 
rity  of  the  imperial  nephew  of  his  majesty,  the  emperor  and  king, 
may  be  terminated  by  an  invitation  to  Bayonne. 

"  But  it  cannot  be  that  the  administration,  and  the  friends  of  the 
administration,  think  that  there  is  less  to  be  feared  from  the  federal 
party  than  there  was  three  years  ago.  How  then  does  it  happen  that 
the  necessity  of  putting  down  this  great  and  growing  evil  is  forgotten 
in  the  struggle  to  remove  that  gentleman  from  the  confidence  of  his 
constituents  ?  They  tell  us  indeed,  themselves,  that  the  republican 
cause  has  nothing  to  fear  from  Mr.  R.,  and  they  say  true,  sir.  They 
know  that  the  republican  cause  has  nothing  to  fear  from  him ;  but 
they  feel  at  the  same  time,  that  the  pretended  supporters  of  that 
cause  have  every  thing  to  fear  from  him.  They  see  in  him  the  only 
man  on  the  floor  of  Congress  who  has  the  sagacity  to  detect  and  the 
spirit  to  expose  their  unconstitutional  practices  and  their  nefarious 
designs,  and  they  wish  his  ruin,  for  the  same  reason  that  rogues  wish 
the  absence  of  the  sun.  How  else  can  their  conduct  be  explained  ? 
At  a  time  when  the  shattered  forces  of  the  federalists  are  again 
assembling,  when  they  are  even  enjoying  a  partial  triumph,  the  Go 
vernment  are  seen  endeavoring  to  drive  from  their  ranks  the  most 
distinguished  and  formidable  adversary  to  that  cause.  No,  sir  ;  they 
love  not  the  light,  because  their  deeds  are  evil.  And  do  those  who 
urge  this  clamor  against  Mr.  R.  suppose  that  the  people  are  blind 
to  the  real  cause  of  it,  that  they  form  no  judgment  of  the  motives 
and  characters  of  the  men  who  seek  his  ruin,  by  the  means  they  use 
for  that  purpose  ?  No  ;  they  know  that  dirty  tools  are  used  for  dirty 
work,  and  that  he  who  employs  them  in  that  way  cannot  have  clean 
hands.  What  can  they  think  when  they  see  his  private  letters  be 
trayed,  and  his  unguarded  moments  of  gayety  and  conviviality  watched 
and  exposed  ?  Shall  they  be  told  that  these  are  private  occurrences  1 
No,  sir.  Mr.  Gr.  will  not  do  even  an  act  of  treachery  for  nothing. 


284  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

Indeed,  some  of  the  partisans  of  Mr.  Madison  have  not  scrupled  to 
declare,  that  they  consider  his  election  as  of  little  more  importance 
than  the  defeat  of  Mr.  R.  Can  the  people  be  at  a  loss  to  understand 
wherefore  ?  As  long  as  the  views  of  Mr.  Madison  are  constitutional, 
and  his  conduct  honorable,  he  can  have  nothing  to  fear  from  Mr.  R. 
In  cpestions  of  mere  policy,  the  weight  of  Executive  patronage  will 
•always  preponderate,  and,  in  questions  of  right,  always  powerful, 
becomes  invincible  when  supported  by  the  name  and  authority  of  a 
President.  It  is  not  until  he  transcends  the  limits  of  the  Constitu 
tion  that  any  opposition  can  be  formidable.  If  such  be  their  projected 
course — if  the  system  of  standing  armies  and  navies,  of  treason  bills 
and  habeas  corpus  acts,  of  unauthorized  expenditures,  and  splendid 
impunity  to  favored  traitors  and  felons,  with  the  practice  of  buying 
peace,  and  giving  to  the  President  the  powers  of  Congress — are  still 
to  be  persisted  in,  let  them  beware  of  Mr.  R.  Already  has  he  de 
claimed  against  these  practices,  and  he  has  not  been  heard  j  but  they 
know  that  the  slumbers  of  the  people  are  not  to  last  for  ever,  and 
they  look  forward  with  the  apprehensions  of  a  sinner,  trembling  in  the 
midst  of  his  guilt,  to  the  day  when  the  vengeance  of  a  deluded  nation 
shall  be  roused ;  and  at  the  sound  of  his  voice,  as  at  that  of  the  last 
trump,  they  shall  call  upon  the  mountains  to  cover  them.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  those  who  made  this  avowal  have  somewhat  transcended  their 
orders.  Their  instinctive  sagacity  leads  them  to  the  game  which 
their  master  is  in  pursuit  of ;  but  in  the  eagerness  of  their  zeal,  they 
have  flushed  it  too  soon.  They  are  at  this  moment  trembling  in  the 
expectation  of  being  corrected  for  the  blunder ;  but  they  are  not  so 
true  spaniels  as  I  take  them  to  be,  if  they  will  not  consent  to  have 
their  ears  pulled  for  the  mistake,  provided  they  be  fed  for  their 
activity." 


CHAPTEE    XXXYI. 

WAR  WITH   ENGLAND. 

THE  great  event  of  Mr.  Madison's  administration  was  the  war  with 
England.  For  a  long  time,  the  grounds  of  complaint  against  that 
Government  were,  the  carrying  trade  and  the  impressment  of  sea- 


WAR  WITH  ENGLAND.  285 

men.  Since  1806,  another  and  more  serious  difficulty,  if  possible,  had 
been  thrown  in  the  way  of  an  amicable  arrangement  between  the  two 
countries.  By  the  Berlin  decree  and  its  supplements,  France  inter 
dicted  all  trade  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  and  her 
dependencies.  By  her  orders  in  council,  professing  to  be  in  retalia 
tion  of  the  Berlin  decree,  Great  Britain  interdicted  all  trade  between 
the  United  States  and  France,  and  her  allies  and  their  dependencies, 
which  embraced  nearly  all  Europe  and  the  civilized  world.  These 
edicts  did  not  affect  the  carrying  trade  merely,  which  was  of  very 
doubtful  justice,  but  they  destroyed  all  commerce  whatever. 

By  the  British  orders  in  council,  American  citizens  were  not  al 
lowed  to  carry  the  products  of  their  own  country,  in  their  own  ships, 
to  a  country  hostile  to  England,  and  to  bring  back,  in  exchange,  the 
commodities  of  that  country,  without  first  paying  tribute  in  a  British 
port,  and  obtaining  license  for  that  purpose.  This  extraordinary 
assumption  of  power  was  acknowledged  to  be  contrary  to  the  law  of 
nations  and  the  rights  of  neutrality;  but  it  was  justified  on  the 
ground  of  necessity.  Lex  talionis  was  the  only  plea.  To  bring 
about  a  sense  of  justice  in  the  great  belligerents,  and  a  repeal  of  their 
unwarrantable  edicts,  the  embargo  law  was  enacted  ;  but  that  proved 
to  be  a  two-edged  sword,  more  deeply  wounding  our  own  sides  than 
those  of  the  parties  it  was  designed  to  effect.  It  was  repealed,  and  a 
non-importation  act,  as  to  England  and  France,  substituted  in  its 
place.  This  proving  ineffectual,  also,  the  olive  branch  was  at  length 
held  out,  with  these  words  :  "  That  if  Great  Britain  or  France  (Act  of 
May  1,  1810,)  should  cease  to  violate  the  neutral  commerce  of  the 
United  States,  which  fact  the  President  should  declare  by  proclama 
tion,  and  the  other  should  not,  within  three  months  thereafter,  revoke 
or  modify  its  edicts  in  like  manner,  that  then  certain  sections  in  a 
former  act,  interdicting  the  commercial  intercourse  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  and  France,  and  their  depend 
encies,  should,  from  and  after  the  expiration  of  three  months 
from  the  date  of  the  proclamation,  be  revived,  and  have  full  force 
against  the  former,  its  colonies,  and  dependencies,  and  against  all  arti 
cles  the  growth,  produce,  or  manufacture  of  the  same."  France  ac 
ceded  to  this  proposition.  On  the  5th  of  August,  1810,  the  minister 
of  foreign  affairs  addressed  a  note  to  the  minister  plenipotentiary  of 
the  United  States  at  Paris,  informing  him  that  the  decrees  of  Berlin 


286  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

and  Milan  were  revoked — the  revocation  to  take  effect  on  the  first  of 
November  following ;  that  the  measure  had  been  taken  by  his  Gov 
ernment,  in  confidence  that  the  British  Government  would  revoke 
its  orders,  and  renounce  its  new  principles  of  blockade,  or  that  the 
United  States  would  cause  their  rights  to  be  respected.  The  means 
by  which  the  United  States  should  cause  their  right  to  be  respected, 
in  case  Great  Britain  should  not  revoke  her  edicts,  it  was  understood, 
consisted  merely  in  the  enforcement  of  the  non-importation  act  against 
that  nation. 

Great  Britain  declined  to  revoke  her  edicts ;  insisted  that  those 
of  France  had  not  been  revoked,  and  complained  vhat  the  United 
States  had  done  injustice,  by  earring  into  effect  the  non-importation 
act  against  her. 

Great  Britain  contended  that,  in  the  French  decrees,  it  was  ex 
pressly  avowed,  that  the  principles  on  which  they  were  founded,  and 
the  provisions  contained  in  them,  were  wholly  new,  unprecedented, 
and  in  direct  contradiction  to  all  ideas  of  justice,  and  the  principles 
and  usages  of  civilized  nations.  The  French  Government  did  not 
pretend  to  say  that  any  one  of  the  regulations  contained  in  those  de 
crees  was  a  regulation  which  France  had  ever  been  in  the  previous 
practice  of.  They  were,  consequently,  to  be  considered,  and  were  in 
deed  allowed  by  France  herself  to  be,  all  of  them,  parts  of  a  new 
system  of  warfare,  unauthorized  by  the  established  law  of  nations.  It 
was  in  this  light  in  which  France  herself  had  placed  her  decrees,  that 
Great  Britain  was  obliged  to  consider  them. 

The  submission  of  neutrals  to  any  regulation  made  by  France,  au 
thorized  by  the  law  of  nations,  and  practised  in  former  wars,  would 
never  be  complained  of  by  Great  Britain ;  but  the  regulations  of  the 
Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  did,  and  were  declared  to  violate  the  laws 
of  nations  and  the  rights  of  neutrals,  for  the  purpose  of  attacking, 
through  them,  the  resources  of  Great  Britain.  The  ruler  of  France 
had  drawn  no  distinction  between  any  of  them,  nor  had  he  declared 
the  cessation  of  any  one  of  them. 

Not  until  the  French  decrees,  therefore,  it  was  contended  by  the 
British  minister,  shall  be  effectually  repealed,  and  thereby  neutral 
commerce  be  restored  to  the  situation  in  which  it  stood  previously  to 
their  promulgation,  can  his  royal  highness  conceive  himself  justified, 
consistently  with  what  he  owes  to  the  safety  and  honor  of  Great 


WAR  WITH  ENGLAND.  287 

Britain,  in  foregoing  the  just  measures  of  retaliation  which  his  majesty, 
in  his  defence,  was  necessitated  to  adopt  against  them. 

The  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  prohibited  every  thing  that  was 
the  manufacture  or  product  of  Great  Britain  from  being  imported  to 
the  Continent,  under  any  pretence  whatever,  whether  owned  by 
British  subjects,  or  owned  and  transported  by  neutrals.  This  latter 
part  of  the  decrees  was  in  violation  of  the  rights  of  neutrality.  They 
also,  at  the  same  time,  prohibited  all  trade,  on  the  part  of  neutrals, 
with  the  British  dominions.  This  portion  was  now  repealed,  so  far 
as  it  affected  the  United  States.  They  were  allowed  to  trade  with 
Great  Britain  and  her  dependencies,  but  were  not  permitted  to  carry 
to  the  Continent  any  goods  that  were  the  manufacture  or  produce  of 
Great  Britain,  though  they  might  have  been  purchased,  and  were 
actually  owned  by  American  citizens.  Great  Britain  insisted  that 
she  could  not  repeal  her  orders  in  council,  so  long  as  the  United 
States  suffered  this  infraction  of  their  rights  of  neutrality.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  was  contended  that  Great  Britain  had  pledged  herself 
to  repeal  the  orders  in  council  whenever  the  decrees  were  revoked. 
The  decrees,  it  was  said,  were  now  revoked  as  it  regarded  the  United 
States  ;  but  Britain,  in  violation  of  her  pledge,  persisted  in  refusing 
to  repeal  her  orders.  The  whole  question,  then,  was  narrowed  down 
to  this :  Had  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  been  revoked,  in  the 
sense  it  was  understood  by  the  parties,  at  the  time  of  the  pledge? 
G-reat  Britain  said  they  had  not.  The  United  States  said  they  had 
been  revoked,  according  to  the  understanding. 

In  this  attitude  matters  stood,  when  Congress,  on  the  4th  of  No 
vember,  1811,  was  called  together  by  proclamation  of  the  President. 
"  At  the  close  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,"  says  the  message, 
"  it  was  hoped  that  the  successive  confirmations  of  the  extinction  of 
the  French  decrees,  so  far  as  they  violated  our  neutral  commerce, 
would  have  induced  the  government  of  Great  Britain  to  repeal  its 
orders  in  council,  and  thereby  authorize  the  removal  of  the  existing 
obstructions  to  her  commerce  with  the  United  States.  Instead  of 
this  reasonable  step  towards  satisfaction  and  friendship  between  the 
two  nations,  the  orders  were,  at  a  moment  when  least  to  have  been 
expected,  put  into  more  rigorous  execution ;  and  it  was  communi 
cated,  through  the  British  envoy  just  arrived,  that  whilst  the  revocation 
of  the  edicts  of  France,  as  officially  made  known  to  the  British  G-ov- 


288  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

ernment,  was  denied  to  have  taken  place,  it  was  an  indispensable  con 
dition  of  the  repeal  of  the  British  orders  that  commerce  should  be 
restored  to  a  footing  that  would  admit  the  manufactures  and  pro 
ductions  of  Great  Britain,  when  owned  by  neutrals,  into  markets 
shut  against  them  by  her  enemy — the  United  States  being  given  to 
understand  that,  in  the  mean  time,  a  continuation  of  the  non-importa 
tion  act  would  lead  to  measures  of  retaliation.  ****** 

"  With  the  evidence  of  hostile  inflexibility,  in  trampling  on  our 
rights,  which  no  independent  nation  can  reliquish,  Congress  will 
feel  the  duty  of  putting  the  United  States  into  an  armor  and  an 
attitude  demanded  by  the  crisis,  and  corresponding  with  the  national 
spirit  and  expectations." 

The  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee,  who.  in  a  report,  reviewed 
the  grounds  of  complaint,  and  concluded  with  offering  a  series  of  reso 
lutions,  the  object  of  which  was,  to  put  the  United  States  imme 
diately  "  into  an  armor  and  attitude  demanded  by  the  crisis."  The 
friends  of  the  administration  admitted  that  they  urged  the  resolu 
tions  as  an  immediate  preparation  for  war.  That  war  was  inevitable, 
and  would  be  declared  so  soon  as  the  nation  was  put  into  a  posture 
of  defence.  It  was  also  said  in  debate  that  one  of  the  objects,  and 
a  necessary  result  of  the  war,  would  be  the  conquest  of  Canada. 

On  the  10th  day  of  December,  Mr.  Randolph  made  one  of  his 
most  powerful  and  eloquent  speeches  in  opposition  to  these  war  mea 
sures.  As  the  speech  is  to  be  found  in  most  of  the  collections  of 
American  eloquence  that  have  been  published  from  time  to  time,  we 
must  content  ourselves  with  an  extract  here  and  there,  barely  suffi 
cient  to  explain  in  his  own  words  the  grounds  of  opposition. 

"  It  is  a  question,"  said  Mr.  Randolph,  "  as  it  has  been  presented 
to  the  House,  of  peace  or  war.  In  that  light  it  has  been  regarded  ; 
in  no  other  light  can  I  consider  it,  after  declarations  made  by  mem 
bers  of  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Relations.  Without  intending  any 
disrespect  to  the  chair,  I  must  be  permitted  to  say,  that  if  the  deci 
sion  yesterday  was  correct,  '  that  it  was  not  in  order  to  advance  any 
arguments  against  the  resolution,  drawn  from  topics  before  other 
committees  of  the  House,'  the  whole  debate — nay,  the  report  itself 
on  which  we  are  acting — is  disorderly,  since  the  increase  of  the  mili 
tary  force  is  a  subject  at  this  time  in  agitation  by  the  select  com 
mittee  raised  on  that  branch  of  the  President's  message.  But  it  is 


WAR  WITH  ENGLAND.  289 

impossible  that  the  discussion  of  a  question,  broad  as  the  wide  ocean, 
of  our  foreign  concerns,  involving  every  consideration  of  interest,  of 
right,  of  happiness,  and  of  safety  at  home  ;  touching  in  every  point 
all  that  is  dear  to  freemen — 'their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their 
sacred  honor ; '  can  be  tied  down  by  the  narrow  rules  of  technical 
routine.  The  Committee  of  Foreign  Relations  has  indeed  decided 
that  the  subject  of  arming  the  militia  (which  I  pressed  upon  them  as 
indispensable  to  the  public  safety)  does  not  come  within  the  scops  of 
their  authority.  On  what  ground,  I  have  been,  and  still  am,  unable 
to  see.  They  have  felt  themselves  authorized  (when  the  subject  was 
before  another  committee)  to  recommend  the  raising  of  standing 
armies,  with  a  view  (as  has  been  declared)  of  immediate  war — a  war 
not  of  defence,  but  of  conquest,  of  aggrandizement,  of  ambition — a 
war  foreign  to  the  interests  of  this  country,  to  the  interests  of  huma 
nity  itself. 

"  I  know  not  how  gentlemen  calling  themselves  republicans  can 
advocate  such  a  war.  What  was  their  doctrine  in  1798-9,  when  the 
command  of  the  army,  that  highest  of  all  possible  trusts  in  any 
government,  be  the  form  what  it  may,  was  reposed  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Father  of  his  country !  the  sanctuary  of  a  nation's  love ! — 
the  only  hope  that  never  came  in  vain?  When  other  worthies 
of  the  revolution,  Hamilton,  Pinckney,  and  the  younger  Wash 
ington,  men  of  tried  patriotism,  of  approved  conduct  and  valor, 
of  untarnished  honor,  held  subordinate  command  under  him  ? 
Republicans  were  then  unwilling  to  trust  a  standing  army  even 
to  his  hands,  who  had  given  proof  that  he  was  above  all  human 
temptation.  Where  now  is  the  revolutionary  hero  to  whom  you  are 
about  to  confide  this  sacred  trust  ?  To  whom  will  you  confide  the 
charge  of  leading  the  flower  of  your  youth  to  the  heights  of  Abra 
ham?  Will  you  find  him  in  the  person  of  an  acquitted  felon? 
What !  Then  you  were  unwilling  to  vote  an  army,  when  such  men  as 
have  been  named  held  high  command  !  When  Washington  himself 
was  at  the  head,  did  you  then  show  such  reluctance,  feel  such  scru 
ple  ?  And  are  you  now  nothing  loth,  fearless  of  every  consequence  ? 
Will  you  say  that  your  provocations  were  less  then  than  now,  when 
your  direct  commerce  was  interdicted,  your  ambassadors  hooted  with 
derision  from  the  French  court,  tribute  demanded,  actual  war  waged 
upon  you  ?  Those  who  opposed  the  army  then  were  indeed  denounced 
VOL.  i.  13 


290  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

as  the  partisans  of  France,  as  the  same  men — some  of  them  at  least — 
are  now  held  up  as  the  advocates  of  England  ;  those  firm  and  unde- 
viating  republicans,  who  then  dared,  and  now  dare,  to  cling  to  the 
ark  of  the  Constitution,  to  defend  it  even  at  the  expense  of  their  fame, 
rather  than  surrender  themselves  to  the  wild  projects  of  mad  ambi 
tion.  There  is  a  fatality,  sir,  attending  plenitude  of  power.  Soon  or 
late  some  mania  seizes  upon  its  possessors  ;  they  fall  from  the  dizzy 
height,  through  the  giddiness  of  their  own  heads.  Like  a  vast  estate, 
heaped  up  by  the  labor  and  industry  of  one  man,  winch  seldom  sur 
vives  the  third  generation.  Power  gained  by  patient  assiduity,  by  a 
faithful  and  regular  discharge  of  its  attendant  duties,  soon  gets  above 
its  own  origin.  Intoxicated  with  their  own  greatness,  the  federal 
party  fell.  Will  not  the  same  causes  produce  the  same  effects  now 
as  then  ?  Sir,  you  may  raise  this  army,  you  may  build  up  this  vast 
structure  of  patronage,  this  mighty  apparatus  of  favoritism;  but 
£  lay  not  the  flattering  unction  to  your  souls,'  you  will  never  live  to 
enjoy  the  succession :  you  sign  your  political  death  warrant.  *  *  *  * 

"  This  war  of  conquest,  a  war  for  the  acquisition  of  territory  and 
subjects,  is  to  be  a  new  commentary  on  the  doctrine  that  republics 
are  destitute  of  ambition  ;  they  are  addicted  to  peace,  wedded  to  the 
happiness  and  safety  of  the  great  body  of  their  people.  But  it  seems 
this  is  to  be  a  holiday  campaign ;  there  is  to  be  no  expense  of  blood 
or  treasure  on  our  part ;  Canada  is  to  conquer  herself ;  she  is  to  be 
subdued  by  the  principles  of  fraternity.  The  people  of  that  country 
are  first  to  be  seduced  from  their  allegiance,  and  converted  into  trai 
tors,  as  preparatory  to  the  making  them  good  citizens.  Although  I 
must  acknowledge  that  some  of  our  flaming  patriots  were  thus  man 
ufactured,  I  do  not  think  the  process  would  hold  good  with  a  whole 
community.  It  is  a  dangerous  experiment.  We  are  to  succeed  in 
the  French  mode — by  the  system  of  fraternization.  All  is  French  ! 
But  how  dreadfully  it  might  be  retorted  on  the  southern  and  western 
slaveholding  States.  I  detest  this  subornation  of  treason.  No :  if 
we  must  have  them,  let  them  fall  by  the  valor  of  our  arms ]  by  fair, 
legitimate  conquest  5  not  become  the  victims  of  treacherous  seduction. 

"  I  am  not  surprised  at  the  war-spirit  which  is  manifesting  itself 
in  gentlemen  from  the  South.  In  the  year  1805-6,  in  a  struggle  for 
the  carrying  trade  of  belligerent  colonial  produce,  this  country  was 
most  unwisely  brought  into  collision  with  the  great  powers  of  Europe. 


WAR  WITH  ENGLAND.  291 

By  a  series  of  most  impolitic  and  ruinous  measures,  utterly  incom 
prehensible  to  every  rational,  sober-minded  man,  the  Southern  plant 
ers,  by  their  own  votes,  succeeded  in  knocking  down  the  price  of  cot 
ton  to  seven  cents,  and  of  tobacco  (a  few  choice  crops  excepted)  to 
nothing,  and  in  raising  the  price  of  blankets  (of  which  a  few  would 
not  be  amiss  in  a  Canadian  campaign),  coarse  woollens,  and  every  ar 
ticle  of  first  necessity,  three  or  four  hundred  per  cent.  And  now, 
that  by  our  own  acts  we  have  brought  ourselves  into  this  unprece 
dented  condition,  we  must  get  out  of  it  in  any  way  but  by  an  ac 
knowledgment  of  our  own  want  of  wisdom  and  forecast.  But  is  war 
the  true  remedy  ?  Who  will  profit  by  it  ?  Speculators  ;  a  few  lucky 
merchants,  who  draw  prizes  in  the  lottery ;  commissaries  and  con 
tractors.  Who  must  suffer  by  it  ?  The  people.  It  is  their  blood, 
their  taxes,  that  must  flow  to  support  it. 

"  But  gentlemen  -avowed  that  they  would  not  go  to  war  for  the 
carrying  trade ;  that  is,  for  any  other  but  the  direct  export  and  im 
port  trade — that  which  carries  our  native  products  abroad,  and  brings 
back  the  return  cargo ;  and  yet  they  stickle  for  our  commercial 
rights,  and  will  go  to  war  for  them  !  I  wish  to  know,  in  point  of 
principle,  what  difference  gentlemen  can  point  out  between  the  aban 
donment  of  this  or  of  that  maritime  right  ?  Do  gentlemen  assume 
the  lofty  port  and  tone  of  chivalrous  redressers  of  maritime  wrongs, 
and  declare  their  readiness  to  surrender  every  other  maritime  right, 
provided  they  may  remain  unmolested  in  the  exercise  of  the  humble 
privilege  of  carrying  their  own  produce  abroad,  and  bringing  back  * 
return  cargo  ?  Do  you  make  this  declaration  to  the  enemy  at  the 
outset  ?  Do  you  state  the  minimum  with  which  you  will  be  contented, 
and  put  it  in  her  power  to  close  with  your  proposals  at  her  option  ? 
give  her  the  basis  of  a  treaty  ruinous  and  disgraceful  beyond  exam 
ple  and  expression  ?  and  this  too  after  having  turned  up  your  noses 
in  disdain  at  the  treaties  of  Mr.  Jay  and  Mr.  Monroe  ?  Will  you 
say  to  England,  '  End  the  ivar  when  you  please ;  give  us  the  direct 
trade  in  our  own  produce,  we  are  content  V  But  what  will  the  mer 
chants  of  Salem,  and  Boston,  and  New  York,  and  Philadelphia,  and 
Baltimore — the  men  of  Marblehead  and  Cape  Cod,  say  to  this? 
Will  they  join  in  a  war  professing  to  have  for  its  object  what  they 
would  consider,  and  justly  too,  as  the  sacrifice  of  their  maritime 
rights,  yet  affecting  to  be  a  war  for  the  protection  of  commerce  ? 


292  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

"  I  am  gratified  to  find  gentlemen  acknowledging  the  demoral 
izing  and  destructive  consequences  of  the  non-importation  law ;  con 
fessing  the  truth  of  all  that  its  opponents  foretold  when  enacted  ;  and 
will  you  plunge  yourselves  in  war,  because  you  have  passed  a  foolish 
and  ruinous  law,  and  are  ashamed  to  repeal  it  ?  '  But  our  good 
friend,  the  French  Emperor,  stands  in  the  way  of  its  repeal,'  and,  as 
we  cannot  go  too  far  in  making  sacrifices  to  him,  who  has  given  such 
demonstration  of  his  love  for  the  Americans,  we  must,  in  point  of  fact, 
become  parties  to  this  war.  '  Who  can  be  so  cruel  as  to  refuse  him 
this  favor1?'  My  imagination  shrinks  from  the  miseries  of  such  con 
nection.  I  call  upon  the  House  to  reflect  whether  they  are  not  about 
to  abandon  all  reclamation  for  the  unparalleled  outrages, t  insults  and 
injuries'  of  the  French  Government ;  to  give  up  our  claim  for  plun 
dered  millions,  and  ask  what  reparation  or  atonement  we  can  expect 
to  obtain  in  hours  of  future  dalliance,  after  we  shall  have  made  a  ten 
der  of  our  persons  to  this  great  deflowerer  of  the  virginity  of  repub 
lics.  We  have,  by  our  own  wise  (I  will  not  say  wise-acre)  measures, 
so  increased  the  trade  of  Montreal  and  Quebec,  that  at  last  we  be 
gin  to  cast  a  wistful  eye  at  Canada.  Having  done  .so  much  towards 
its  improvement,  by  the  exercise  of  our  '  restrictive  energies,'  we  be 
gin  to  think  the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,  and  to  put  in  claim  for 
our  portion.  Suppose  it  ours,  are  we  any  nearer  our  point  ?  As  his 
minister  said  to  the  King  of  Epirus, '  May  we  not  as  well  take  our 
bottle  of  wine  before  as  after  this  exploit  ?'  Go  !  march  to  Canada  ! 
Leave  the  broad  bosom  of  the  Chesapeake,  and  her  hundred  tributary 
rivers,  the  whole  line  of  sea-coast,  from  Machias  to  St.  Mary's,  unpro 
tected  :  you  have  taken  Quebec — have  you  conquered  England  ? 
Will  you  seek  for  the  deep  foundations  of  her  power  in  the  frozen 
deserts  of  Labrador  ? 

'  Her  march  is  on  the  mountain  wave, 
Her  home  is  on  the  deep !' 

Will  you  call  upon  her  to  leave  your  ports  and  harbors  untouched, 
only  just  till  you  can  return  from  Canada  to  defend  them  ?  The  coast 
is  to  be  left  defenceless,  whilst  men  of  the  interior  are  revelling  in 
conquest  and  spoil.  But  grant  for  a  moment,  for  mere  argument's 
sake,  that  in  Canada  you  touched  the  sinews  of  her  strength,  instead 
of  removing  a  clog  upon  her  resources — an  incumbrance,  but  one, 


WAR  WITH  ENGLAND.  293 

which,  from  a  spirit  of  honor,  she  will  vigorously  defend.  In  what 
situation  would  you  then  place  some  of  the  best  men  of  the  nation  ? 
As  Chatham  and  Burke,  and  the  whole  band  of  her  patriots  prayed 
for  her  defeat  in  1776.  so  must  some  of  the  truest  friends  of  the 
country  deprecate  the  success  of  our  arms  against  the  only  power  that 
holds  in  check  the  arch  enemy  of  mankind. 

"  Our  people  will  not  submit  to  be  taxed  for  this  war  of  conquest 
and  dominion.  The  government  of  the  United  States  was  not  calcu 
lated  to  wage  offensive  foreign  war ;  it  was  instituted  for  the  common 
defence  and  general  welfare ;  and  whosoever  will  embark  it  in  a  war 
of  offence,  will  put  it  to  a  test  which  it  is  by  no  means  calculated  to 
endure.  Make  it  out  that  Great  Britain  did  instigate  the  Indians 
on  a  late  occasion,  and  I  am  ready  for  battle,  but  not  for  dominion. 
I  ain  unwilling,  however,  under  present  circumstances,  to  take  Can 
ada  at  the  risk  of  the  Constitution  ;  to  embark  in  a  common  cause 
with  France,  and  be  dragged  at  the  wheels  of  the  car  of  some  Burr 
or  Bonaparte.  For  a  gentleman  from  Tennessee,  or  Genesee,  or  lake 
Champlain,  there  may  be  some  prospect  of  advantage.  Their  hemp 
would  bear  a  great  price  by  the  exclusion  of  foreign  supply.  In  that, 
too,  the  great  importers  were  deeply  interested.  The  upper  country 
on  the  Hudson  and  the  lakes,  would  be  enriched  by  the  supplies  for 
the  troops,  which  they  alone  could  furnish.  They  would  have  the 
exclusive  market ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  increased  preponderance 
from  the  acquisition  of  Canada,  and  that  section  of  the  Union,  which 
the  southern  and  western  States  had  already  felt  so  severely  in  the 
apportionment  bill." 

Mr.  Randolph  dwelt  on  the  danger  arising  from  the  black  popula 
tion.  He  said  he  would  touch  this  subject  as  tenderly  as  possible ; 
it  was  with  reluctance  that  he  touched  it  at  all ;  but  in  cases  of  great 
emergency  the  state  physician  must  not  be  deterred  by  a  sickly,  hys 
terical  humanity,  from  probing  the  wound  of  his  patient ;  he  must  not 
be  withheld  by  a  fastidious  and  mistaken  humanity  from  representing 
his  true  situation  to  his  friends,  or  even  to  the  sick  man  himself,  where 
the  occasion  called  for  it.  "  What,  sir,  is  the  situation  of  the  slavehold- 
ing  States?  During  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  so  fixed  were  their 
habits  of  subordination,  that  while  the  whole  country  was  overrun  by 
the  enemy,  who  invited  them  to  desert,  no  fear  was  ever  entertained 
of  an  insurrection  of  the  slaves.  During  a  war  of  seven  years,  with 


294  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

our  country  in  possession  of  the  enemy,  no  such  danger  was  ever  ap 
prehended.  But  should  we  therefore  be  unobservant  spectators  of 
the  progress  of  society  within  the  last  twenty  years  ?  of  the  silent 
but  powerful  change  wrought  by  time  and  chance  upon  its  composi 
tion  and  temper  ?  When  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  of  abomi 
nation  were  broken  up,  even  the  poor  slaves  escaped  not  the  general 
deluge.  The  French  revolution  polluted  even  them.  Nay,  there 
were  not  wanting  men  in  that  House — witness  their  legislative  Le- 
gendre,  the  butcher  who  once  held  a  seat  there — to  preach  upon  that 
floor,  these  imprescriptable  rights  to  a  crowded  audience  of  blacks  in 
the  galleries  ;  teaching  them  that  they  are  equal  to  their  masters  ;  in 
other  words,  advising  them  to  cut  their  throats.  Similar  doctrines 
are  disseminated  by  pedlars  from  New  England,  and  elsewhere, 
throughout  the  Southern  country  j  and  masters  have  been  found  so 
infatuated,  as  by  their  lives  and  conversation,  by  a  general  contempt 
of  order,  morality  and  religion,  unthinkingly  to  cherish  those  seeds 
of  self-destruction  to  them  and  their  families.  What  is  the  conse 
quence  ?  Within  the  last  ten  years,  repeated  alarms  of  insurrection 
among  the  slaves ;  some  of  them  awful  indeed.  From  the  spread 
ing  of  this  infernal  doctrine,  the  whole  Southern  country  has  been 
thrown  into  a  state  of  insecurity.  Men  dead  to  the  operation  of 
moral  causes,  have  taken  away  from  the  poor  slave  his  habits  of  loy 
alty  and  obedience  to  his  master,  which  lightened  his  servitude  by  a 
double  operation— beguiling  his  own  cares,  and  disarming  his  mas 
ter's  suspicions  and  severity ;  and  now,  like  true  empirics  in  politics, 
you  are  called  upon  to  trust  to  the  mere  physical  strength  of  the  fet 
ter  which  holds  him  in  bondage.  You  have  deprived  him  of  all 
moral  restraint ;  you  have  tempted  him  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  knowl 
edge,  just  enough  to  perfect  him  in  wickedness  ;  you  have  opened  his 
eyes  to  his  nakedness ;  you  have  armed  his  nature  against  the  hand 
that  has  fed,  that  has  clothed  him,  that  has  cherished  him  in  sick 
ness  ;  that  hand  which,  before  he  became  a  pupil  of  your  school,  he 
had  been  accustomed  to  press  with  respectful  affection.  You  have 
done  all  this,  and  then,  show  him  the  gibbet  and  the  wheel,  as  incen 
tives  to  a  sullen,  repugnant  obedience.  God  forbid,  sir,  that  the 
southern  States  should  ever  see  an  enemy  on  their  shores,  with  these 
infernal  principles  of  French  fraternity  in  the  van.  While  talking 
of  taking  Canada,  some  of  us  are  shuddering  for  our  own  safety  at 


WAR  WITH  ENGLAND.  295 

home.  I  speak  from  facts  when  I  say,  that  the  night-bell  never  tolls 
for  fire  in  Richmond,  that  the  mother  does  not  hug  the  infant  more 
closely  to  her  bosom.  I  have  been  a  witness  of  some  of  the  alarms 
in  the  capital  of  Virginia." 

Mr.  Randolph  then  proceeded  to  notice  the  unjust  and  illiberal 
imputation  of  British  attachments,  against  certain  characters  in  this 
country  ;  sometimes  insinuated  in  the  House,  but  openly  avowed 
out  of  it.  "  Against  whom  are  these  charges  brought  ?  Against  men 
who  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  were  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  or 
fighting  the  battles  of  your  country.  And  by  whom  are  they  made  ? 
By  runaways,  chiefly  from  the  British  dominions,  since  the  breaking 
out  of  the  French  troubles.  It  is  insufferable  !  It  cannot  be  borne ! 
It  must,  and  ought,  with  severity,  to  be  put  down  in  this  House,  and 
out  of  it,  to  meet  the  lie  direct.  We  have  no  fellow-feeling  for  the 
suffering  and  oppressed  Spaniards  !  Yet  even  them  we  do  not  rep 
robate.  Strange !  that  we  should  have  no  objection  to  any  other 
people  or  government,  civilized  or  savage,  in  the  whole  world.  The 
great  autocrat  of  all  the  Russias  receives  the  homage  of  our  high 
consideration ;  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  and  his  divan  of  pirates,  are  very 
civil,  good  sort  of  people,  with  whom  we  find  no  difficulty  in  main 
taining  the  relations  of  peace  and  amity ;  '  Turks,  Jews,  and  Infi 
dels  ;'  MelimeUi,  or  the  Little  Turtle ;  barbarians  and  savages,  of 
every  clime  and  color,  are  welcome  to  our  arms  ;  with  chiefs  of  ban 
ditti,  negro  or  mulatto,  we  can  treat  and  can  trade — name,  however, 
but  England,  and  all  our  antipathies  are  up  in  arms  against  her. 
Against  whom  1  Against  those  whose  blood  runs  in  our  own  veins ; 
in  common  with  whom  we  can  claim  Shakspeare,  and  Newton,  and 
Chatham  for  our  countrymen ;  whose  form  of  government  is  the  freest 
on  earth,  our  own  only  excepted ;  from  whom  every  valuable  princi 
ple  of  our  own  institutions  has  been  borrowed — representation,  jury 
trial,  voting  the  supplies,  writs  of  habeas  corpus — our  whole  civil  and 
criminal  jurisprudence ;  against  our  fellow-protestants,  identified  in 
blood,  in  language,  in  religion  with  ourselves.  In  what  school  did 
the  worthies  of  our  land,  the  Washingtons,  Henrys,  Hancocks,  Frank 
lins,  Rutleges,  of  America,  learn  those  principles  of  civil  liberty  which 
were  so  nobly  asserted  by  their  wisdom  and  valor  ?  And  American 
resistance  to  British  usurpation  had  not  been  more  warmly  cherished 
by  these  great  men  and  their  compatriots ;  not  more  by  Washington, 


LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

Hancock,  and  Henry,  than  Tby  Chatham,  and  his  illustrious  associates 
in  the  British  Parliament.  It  ought  to  be  remembered,  too,  that  the 
heart  of  the  English  people  was  with  us.  It  was  a  selfish  and  cor 
rupt  ministry,  and  their  servile  tools,  to  whom  we  were  not  more  op 
posed  than  they  were.  I  trust  that  none  such  may  ever  exist  among 
us  ;  for  tools  will  never  be  wanted  to  subserve  the  purposes,  however 
ruinous  or  wicked,  of  kings  and  ministers  of  state. 

"  But  the  outrages  and  injuries  of  England.  Bred  up  in  the 
principles  of  the  Revolution,  I  can  never  palliate,  much  less  defend 
them.  I  well  remember  flying  with  my  mother,  and  her  new-born 
child,  from  Arnold  and  Philips ;  and  they  had  been  driven  by  Tarle- 
ton,  and  other  British  pandours,  from  pillar  to  post,  while  her  hus 
band  was  fighting  the  battles  of  his  country.  The  impression  is  in 
delible  on  my  memory ;  and  yet  (like  my  worthy  old  neighbor,  who 
added  seven  buckshot  to  every  cartridge  at  the  battle  of  Guilford, 
and  drew  a  fine  sight  at  his  man)  I  must  be  content  to  be  called  a 
tory  by  a  patriot  of  the  last  importation.  Let  us  not  get  rid  of  one 
evil,  supposing  it  possible,  at  the  expense  of  a  greater.  Suppose 
France  in  possession  of  the  British  naval  power — and  to  her  the  tri 
dent  must  pass  should  England  be  unable  to  wield  it — what  would 
be  your  condition  1  What  would  be  the  situation  of  your  seaports 
and  their  seafaring  inhabitants  ?  Ask  Hamburg,  Lubec — ask  Savan 
nah  ?  What !  sir,  when  their  privateers  are  pent  up  in  our  harbors 
by  the  British  bull-dogs  ;  when  they  receive  at  our  hands  every  rite 
of  hospitality,  from  which  their  enemy  is  excluded  ;  when  they  cap 
ture  within  our  waters,  interdicted  to  British  armed  ships,  American 
vessels ;  when  such  is  their  deportment  toward  you,  under  such  cir 
cumstances,  what  could  you  expect  if  they  were  the  uncontrolled  lords 
of  the  ocean  ?  Had  those  privateers  at  Savannah  borne  British  com 
missions,  or  had  your  shipments  of  cotton,  tobacco,  ashes,  and  what 
not,  to  London  and  Liverpool  been  confiscated,  and  the  proceeds 
poured  into  the  English  exchequer,  my  life  upon  it !  you  would 
never  have  listened  to  any  miserable  wire-drawn  distinctions  between 
'  orders  and  decrees  affecting  our  neutral  rights,'  and  '  municipal  de 
crees,5  confiscating  in  mass  your  whole  property.  You  would  have 
had  instant  war !  The  whole  land  would  have  blazed  out  in  war. 

"  And  shall  republicans  become  the  instruments  of  him  who  has 
effaced  the  title  of  Attila  to  the  '  SCOURGE  OF  GOD  !'  Yet,  even 


WAR  WITH  ENGLAND.  297 

Attila,  in  the  falling  fortunes  of  civilization,  had,  no  doubt,  his  advo 
cates,  his  tools,  his  minions,  his  parasites,  in  the  very  countries  that 
he  overran — sons  of  that  soil  whereon  his  horse  had  trod,  where  grass 
could  never  after  grow.  If  perfectly  fresh,"  Mr 'Randolph  said,  "in 
stead  of  being  as  I  am — my  memory  clouded,  my  intellect  stupefied, 
my  strength  and  spirits  exhausted — I  could  not  give  utterance  to  that 
strong  detestation  which  I  feel  toward  (above  all  other  works  of  the 
creation)  such  characters  as  Zingis,  Tamerlane,  Kouli  Khan,  or  Bo 
naparte.  My  instincts  involuntarily  revolt  at  their  bare  idea — male 
factors  of  the  human  race,  who  ground  down  man  to  a  mere  machine 
of  their  impious  and  bloody  ambition.  Yet,  under  all  the  accumu 
lated  wrongs,  and  insults,  and  robberies  of  the  last  of  these  chief 
tains,  are  we  not,  in  point  of  fact,  about  to  become  a  party  to  his 
views,  a  partner  in  his  wars  ? 

"  I  beseech  the  House,  before  they  run  their  heads  against  this 
post,  Quebec,  to  count  the  cost.  My  word  for  it,  Virginia  planters 
will  not  be  taxed  to  support  such  a  war ;  a  war  which  must  aggravate 
their  present  distresses  ;  in  which  they  have  not  the  remotest  inter 
est.  Where  is  the  Montgomery,  or  even  the  Arnold,  or  the  Burr, 
who  is  to  march  to  the  Point  Levi  ? 

"  I  call  upon  those  professing  to  be  republicans,  to  make  good  the 
promises  held  out  by  their  republican  predecessors  when  they  came 
into  power;  promises,  which  for  years  afterwards,  they  honestly, 
faithfully  fulfilled.  We  vaunted  of  paying  off  the  national  debt,  of 
retrenching  useless  establishments ;  and  yet  have  now  become  as  in 
fatuated  with  standing  armies,  loans,  taxes,  navies  and  war,  as  ever 
were  the  Essex  junto.  What  republicanism  is  this  ?" 

Mr.  Randolph  resolutely  and  earnestly  combated  every  measure 
that  had  a  tendency  to  widen  the  oreach  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain,  and  to  precipitate  them  into  a  war. 

On  the  1st  of  April,  1812,  the  President  sent  in  a  secret  message^ 
recommending  an  immediate  embargo.  The  Committee  of  Foreign 
Relations,  in  anticipation  of  the  message,  had  a  bill  already  prepared: 
it  was  read  the  first  and  second  time,  reported  to  the  Committee  of 
the  Whole,  referred  back  to  the  House,  and  immediately  put  on  its 
passage.  Some  member  wished  to  know  whether  it  was  to  be  con 
sidered  as  a  peace  measure,  or  a  precursor  to  war. 

Mr.  Grundy.  a  member  of  the  committee,  replied  that  he  under- 

VOL.  i.  13* 


298  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

stood  it  as  a  war  measure ;  and  it  is  meant,  said  he,  that  it  shall  lead 
directly  to  it. 

Mr.  Clay  (the  Speaker)  warmly  expressed  his  satisfaction  and  full 
approbation  of  the  message,  and  the  proposition  before  the  House. 

Mr.  Randolph  then  rose  :  "  I  am  so  impressed,"  said  he,  "  with 
the  importance  of  the  subject  and  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion,  that 
I  cannot  be  silent.  Sir,  we  are  now  in  conclave  ;  the  eyes  of  the  sur 
rounding  world  are  not  upon  us  :  we  are  shut  up  here  from  the  light  of 
heaven,  but  the  eyes  of  Grod  are  upon  us.  He  knows  the  spirit  of  our 
minds.  Shall  we  deliberate  upon  this  subject  with  the  spirit  of 
sobriety  and  candor,  or  with  that  spirit  which  has  too  often  charac 
terized  our  discussions  upon  occasions  like  the  present?  We  ought 
to  realize  that  we  are  in  the  presence  of  that  God  who  knows  our 
thoughts  and  motives,  and  to  whom  we  must  hereafter  render  an  ac 
count  for  the  deeds  done  in  the  body.  I  hope,  sir,  the  spirit  of  party, 
and  every  improper  passion,  will  be  exorcised,  that  our  hearts  may 
be  as  pure  and  clean  as  fall  to  the  lot  of  human  nature. 

"  I  am  confident  in  the  declaration,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  this  is 
not  a  measure  of  the  Executive ;  but  that  it  is  engendered  by  an 
extensive  excitement  upon  the  Executive —  *  *  *  * 

"  I  will  appeal  to  the  sobriety  and  reflection  of  the  House,  and 
ask,  what  new  cause  of  war  for  the  last  twelve  months  ?  What  new 
cause  of  embargo  within  that  period?  The  affair  of  the  Chesapeake 
is  settled. — No  new  principles  of  blockade  interpolated  into  the  laws 
of  nations.  I  suppose  every  man  of  candor  and  sober  reflection  will 
ask  why  we  did  not  go  to  war  twelve  months  ago?  Or  will  it  be  said 
we  ought  to  make  up,  by  our  promptness  now,  for  our  slowness  then  ? 
Or  will  it  be  said,  that  if  the  wheat  for  which  we  have  received  two 
dollars  a  bushel  had  been  rotting  in  our  barns,  we  should  have  been 
happier  and  richer.  What  would  the  planter  say,  if  you  were  to  ask 
him  which  he  would  prefer, — the  honorable,  chivalrous  course  advo 
cated  by  the  Speaker,  with  the  consequences  which  must  attend  it, 
the  sheriff  at  his  back,  and  the  excise  collector  pressing  him  ?  He 
would  laugh  in  your  face.  It  is  not  generally  wise  to  dive  into 
futurity ;  but  it  is  wise  to  profit  by  experience,  although  it  may  be 
unpleasant.  I  feel  much  concerned  to  have  the  bill  on  the  table  for 
one  hour." 

But  he  was  not  allowed  that  privilege.    The  bill  was  immediately 


WAR  WITH  ENGLAND.  299 

hurried  through  the  forms  of  legislation,  and  became  a  law  in  a  short 
time  after  the  President's  message  that  recommended  it  had  been 
read. 

On  the  29th  of  May,  1812,  having  learned  that  a  proposition 
would  certainly  be  made  in  a  few  days  to  declare  war,  he  rose  and 
stated  that  he  had  a  motion  to  make.  He  then  commenced  a  speech, 
involving  generally  the  present  state  of  our  relations  with  France 
and  Great  Britain.  After  he  had  spoken  for  some  time,  a  question 
of  order  was  raised,  and  it  was  decided  by  the  Speaker  that  the  gen 
tleman  ought,  previous  to  debating  so  much  at  large,  to  submit  his 
motion  to  the  House. 

"After  some  desultory  debate,  and  decisions  on  points  of  order,  Mr. 
Randolph  submitted  the  following  proposition  :  "  That  under  present 
circumstances,  it  is  inexpedient  to  resort  to  a  war  with  Great 
Britain" 

The  question  being  taken,  that  the  House  do  now  proceed  to  the 
consideration  of  the  said  resolution,  it  was  by  a  large  majority  de 
cided  in  the  negative.  By  this  most  unparliamentary  proceeding,  as 
he  thought,  the  subject  was  taken  from  before  the  House,  and  Mr. 
Randolph  was  deprived  of  an  opportunity,  if  not  denied  the  right,  of 
addressing  them  on  the  momentous  questions  involved  in  his  resolu 
tion.  Next  day  he  addressed  the  following  letter  to  his  constituents : 

To  the  Freeholders  of  Charlotte,  Prince  Edward,  Buckingham,  and 

Cumberland. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS, — I  dedicate  to  you  the  following  fragment. 
That  it  appears  in  its  present  mutilated  shape,  is  to  be  ascribed  to 
the  successful  usurpation  which  has  reduced  the  freedom  of  speech 
in  one  branch  of  the  American  Congress  to  an  empty  name.  It  is 
now  established,  for  the  first  time,  and  in  the  person  of  your  repre 
sentative,  that  the  House  may  and  will  refuse  to  hear  a  member  in  his 
place,  or  even  to  receive  a  motion  from  him,  upon  the  most  moment 
ous  subject  that  can  be  presented  for  legislative  decision.  A  simi 
lar  motion  was  brought  forward  by  the  republican  minority  in  the 
year  1798,  before  these  modern  inventions  for  stifling  the  freedom  of 
debate  were  discovered.  It  was  discussed  as  a  matter  of  right,  until 
it  was  abandoned  by  the  mover,  in  consequence  of  additional  infor 
mation  (the  correspondence  of  our  envoy  at  Paris)  laid  before  Con- 


300  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

gress  by  the  President.  In  "  the  reign  of  terror,"  the  father  of  the 
sedition  law  had  not  the  hardihood  to  proscribe  liberty  of  speech, 
much  less  the  right  of -free  debate  on  the  floor  of  Congress.  This 
invasion  of  the  public  liberties  was  reserved  for  self-styled  republi 
cans,  who  hold  your  understandings  in  such  contempt,  as  to  flatter 
themselves  that  you  will  overlook  their  every  outrage  upon  the  great 
first  principles  of  free  government,  in  consideration  of  their  profes 
sions  of  tender  regard  for  the  privileges  of  the  people.  It  is  for  you 
to  decide  whether  they  have  undervalued  your  intelligence  and  spirit, 
or  whether  they  have  formed  a  just  estimate  of  your  character.  You 
do  not  require  to  be  told  that  the  violation  of  the  rights  of  him  whom 
you  have  deputed  to  represent  you  is  an  invasion  of  the  rights  of 
every  man  of  you,  of  every  individual  in  society.  If  this  abuse  be 
suffered  to  pass  unredressed — and  the  people  alone  are  competent  to 
apply  the  remedy — we  must  bid  adieu  to  a  free  form  of  government 
for  ever. 

Having  learned  from  various  sources  that  a  declaration  of  war 
would  be  attempted  on  Monday  next,  with  closed  doors,  I  deemed  it 
my  duty  to  endeavor,  by  an  exercise  of  my  constitutional  functions, 
to  arrest  this  heaviest  of  all  calamities,  and  avert  it  from  our  happy 
country.  I  accordingly  made  the  effort  of  which  I  now  give  you  the 
result,  and  of  the  success  of  which  you  will  have  already  been  informed 
before  these  pages  can  reach  you.  I  pretend  only  to  give  you  the 
substance  of  my  unfinished  argument.  The  glowing  words,  the  lan 
guage  of  the  heart,  have  passed  away  with  the  occasion  that  called 
them  forth.  They  are  no  longer  under  my  control.  My  design  is 
simply  to  submit  to  you  the  views  which  have  induced  me  to  consi 
der  a  war  with  England,  under  existing  circumstances,  as  comporting 
neither  with  the  interest  nor  the  honor  of  the  American  people :  but 
as  an  idolatrous  sacrifice  of  both,  on  the  altar  of  French  rapacity, 
perfidy  and  ambition. 

France  has  for  years  past  offered  us  terms  of  undefined  commer 
cial  arrangement,  as  the  price  of  a  war  with  England,  which  hitherto 
we  have  not  wanted  firmness  and  virtue  to  reject.  That  price  is  now 
to  be  paid.  We  are  tired  of  holding  out ;  and,  following  the  exam 
ple  of  continental  Europe,  entangled  in  the  artifices,  or  awed  by  the 
power  of  the  destroyer  of  mankind,  we  are  prepared  to  become 
instrumental  to  his  projects  of  universal  dominion.  Before  these 


WAR  WITH  ENGLAND.  301 

pages  meet  your  eye,  the  last  republic  of  the  earth  will  have  enlisted 
under  tlie  banners  of  tlw  tyrant  and  become  a  party  to  his  cause. 
The  blood  of  the  American  freemen  must  flow  to  cement  his  power,  to 
aid  in  stifling  the  last  struggles  of  afflicted  and  persecuted  man,  to 
deliver  up  into  his  hands  the  patriots  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  to  estab 
lish  his  empire  over  the  ocean  and  over  the  land  that  gave  our  fathers 
birth — to  forge  our  own  chains  !  And  yet,  my  friends,  we  are  told, 
as  we  were  told  in  the  days  of  Mr.  Adams,  "  the  finger  of  heaven 
points  to  war."  Yes,  the  finger  of  heaven  does  point  to  war  !  It  points 
to  war,*as  it  points  to  the  mansions  of  eternal  misery  and  torture — 
as  a  flaming  beacon  warning  us  of  that  vortex  which  we  may  not 
approach  but  with  certain  destruction.  It  points  to  desolated  "Europe, 
and  warns  us  of  the  chastisement  of  those  nations  who  have  offended 
against  the  justice,  and  almost  beyond  the  mercy,  of  heaven.  It 
announces  the  wrath  to  come  upon  those  who,  ungrateful  for  the 
bounty  of  Providence,  not  satisfied  with  the  peace,  liberty,  security 
and  plenty  at  home,  fly,  as  it  were,  into  the  face  of  the  Most  High, 
and  tempt  his  forbearance. 

To  you,  in  this  place,  I  can  speak  with  freedom ;  and  it  becomes 
me  to  do  so  ;  nor  shall  I  be  deterred  by.  the  cavils  and  the  sneers  of 
those  who  hold  as  "  foolishness"  all  that  savors  not  of  worldly  wis 
dom,  from  expressing  fully  and  freely  those  sentiments  which  it  has 
pleased  God,  in  his  mercy,  to  engrave  on  my  heart. 

These  are  no  ordinary  times  ;  the  state  of  the  world  is  unexam 
pled  ;  the  war  of  the  present  day  is  not  like  that  of  our  revolution, 
or  any  which  preceded  it,  at  least  in  modern  times.  It  is  a  war  against 
the  liberties  and  the  happiness  of  mankind ;  it  is  a  war  in  which  the 
whole  human  race  are  the  victims,  to  gratify  the  pride  and  lust  of 
power  of  a  single  individual.  I  beseech  you,  put  it  to  your  own 
bosoms,  how  far  it  becomes  you  as  freemen,  as  Christians,  to  give 
your  aid  and  sanction  to  this  impious  and  bloody  war  against  your 
brethren  of  the  human  family.  To  such  among  you,  if  any  such 
there  be,  who  are  insensible  to  motives  not  more  dignified  and  manly 
than  they  are  intrinsically  wise,  I  would  make  a  different  appeal.  I 
adjure  you  by  the  regard  you  have  for  your  own  safety  and  property, 
for  the  liberty  and  inheritance  of  your  children — by  all  that  you  hold 
dear  and  sacred — to  interpose  your  constitutional  powers  to  save 


302  L!FE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

your  country  and  yourselves  from  the  calamity,  the  issue  of  which 
it  is  not  given  to  human  foresight  to  divine. 

Ask  yourselves  if  you  are  willing  to  become  the  virtual  allies  of 
Bonaparte  ?  Are  you  willing,  for  the  sake  of  annexing  Canada  to 
the  Northern  States,  to  submit  to  that  overgrowing  system  of  tax 
ation  which  sends  the  European  laborer  supperless  to  bed,  to  main 
tain,  by  the  sweat  of  your  brow,  armies  at  whose  hands  you  are  to 
receive  a  future  master  ?  Suppose  Canada  ours ;  is  there  any  one 
among  you  who  would  ever  be,  in  any  respect,  the  better  for  it? — the 
richer,  the  freer,  the  happier,  the  more  secure  ?  And  is  it  for  a  boon 
like  this  that  you  would  join  in  the  warfare  against  the  liberties  of 
man  in  the  other  hemisphere,  and  put  your  own  in  jeopardy  ?  Or  is 
it  for  the  nominal  privilege  of  a  licensed  trade  with  France  that  you 
would  abandon  your  lucrative  commerce  with  Great  Britain,  Spain 
and  Portugal,  and  their  Asiatic,  African,  and  American  dependencies  ; 
in  a  word,  with  every  region  of  those  vast  continents  ? — that  com 
merce  which  gives  vent  to  your  tobacco,  grain,  flour,  cotton  :  in  short, 
to  all  your  native  products,  which  are  denied  a  market  in  France  1 
There  are  not  wanting  men  so  weak  as  to  suppose  that  their  appro 
bation  of  warlike  measures  is  a  proof  of  personal  gallantry,  and  that 
opposition  to  them  indicates  a  want  of  that  spirit  which  becomes  a 
friend  of  his  country  5  as  if  it  required  more  courage  and  patriotism 
to  join  in  the  acclamation  of  the  day,  than  steadily  to  oppose  one's 
self  to  the  mad  infatuation  to  which  every  people  and  all  governments 
have,  at  some  time  or  other,  given  way.  Let  the  history  of  Phocion, 
of  Agis,  and  of  the  De  Witts,  answer  this  question. 

My  friends,  do  you  expect  to  find  those  who  are  now  loudest  in 
the  clamor  for  war,  foremost  in  the  ranks  of  battle  ?  Or,  is  the  honor 
of  this  nation  indissolubly  connected  with  the  political  reputation  of 
a  few  individuals,  who  tell  you  they  have  gone  too  far  to  recede,  and 
that  you  must  pay,  with  your  ruin,  the  price  of  their  consistency  ? 

My  friends,  I  have  discharged  my  duty  towards  you,  lamely  and 
inadequately,  I  know,  but  to  the  best  of  my  poor  ability.  The  des 
tiny  of  the  American  people  is  in  their  own  hands.  The  net  is  spread 
for  their  destruction.  You  are  enveloped  in  the  toils  of  French 
duplicity,  and  if — which  may  Heaven  in  its  mercy  forbid — you  and 
your  posterity  are  to  become  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water 
to  the  modern  Pharoah,  it  shall  not  be  for  the  want  of  my  best  exer- 


CLAY— CALHOUN.  303 

tions  to  rescue  you  from  the  cruel  and  abject  bondage.     This  sin,  at 
least,  shall  not  rest  upon  my  soul. 

JOHN  RANDOLPH  OF  E-OANOKE. 
May  30th,  1812. 


CHAPTEE  XXXVII. 

CLAY — CALHOUN. 

ON  the  18th  of  June,  1812,  an  act  was  approved  by  the  President  de 
claring  that  a  state  of  war  existed  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain.  It  forms  no  part  of  the  plan  of  this  biography  to 
enter  into  the  details  of  the  war.  From  them  the  student  of  history 
can  derive  but  little  information  as  to  the  causes  of  the  growth, 
development  and  decay  of  nations.  But  there  is  an  inquiry  that 
might  properly  be  made  here,  immediately  bearing  on  this  great 
subject,  and  deeply  affecting  the  public  conduct  of  John  Randolph 
at  the  same  time  :  might  not  this  war  have  been  avoided  ?  might 
not  the  nation  have  saved  the  blood  and  treasure  wasted  in  its  pros 
ecution,  and  escaped  the  evil  consequences,  both  moral  and  political, 
that  followed  in  its  train?  John  Randolph  declared  that  it  might 
have  been  done ;  his  whole  opposition  was  based  on  the  conviction 
that  there  was  no  need  for  such  an  extreme  measure.  "  We  can 
escape  this  conflict,  said  he,  with  honor — it  is  our  duty  to  wait. "  No 
new  cause  of  war  had  arisen — there  would  have  been  as  much  rea 
son  for  the  step  in  the  June  preceding  as  there  was  at  the  time  of 
the  declaration.  The  reader  is  already  aware  of  the  grounds  of 
complaint  against  Great  Britain  ;  he  must  be  satisfied  also  that  there 
was  at  least  some  color  of  reason  for  the  course  which  she  declared 
she  was  compelled  to  pursue  towards  neutrals,  in  order  to  save  her 
own  existence  in  the  general  wreck  of  European  nations. 

As  to  the  impressment  of  seamen,  she  only  claimed  the  right 
to  search  for  British  subjects  on  board  of  American  merchant  ves 
sels  ;  yet  it  was  one,  arising  from  the  common  origin  of  the  two 
nations,  most  difficult  to  be  enforced,  liable  to  be  abused,  and  was 
greatly  abused  by  proud  and  insolent  naval  officers.  But  because 


304  LJFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

there  was  right  and  reason  on  both  sides,  this  was  not  between 
rational  people  a  subject  of  war,  but  of  adjustment  and  compromise, 
and  in  truth  it  was  adjusted  to  the  satisfaction  of  Mr.  Monroe 
and  Mr.  Pinckney  in  the  treaty  of  December,  1806;  but  the  Presi 
dent,  as  we  know,  put  that  treaty  in  his  pocket,  and  refused  to  sub 
mit  it  to  the  consideration  of  the  Senate. 

As  to  the  denial  of  our  right  to  the  carrying  trade,  and  the 
question  of  constructive  blockade,  which  had  been  so  much  discussed, 
and  were  charged  as  interpolations  by  Great  Britain  into  the  law 
of  nations,  they  were  now  swallowed  up  by  the  orders  in  council. 
The  reader  is  informed  of  the  exact  posture  of  that  question  on  the 
4th  of  November,  1811,  when  Congress  was  first  assembled.  It 
was  narrowed  down  to  this :  Britain  declared,  that,  notwithstanding 
the  revocation  of  the  French  decrees  so  far  as  they  affected  the  United 
States,  she  could  not  repeal  her  orders  until  the  United  States 
should  procure  a  further  modification  so  as  to  allow  goods  of  British 
origin  owned  by  American  citizens  to  be  carried  to  France  and 
other  parts  of  the  continent.  As  the  matter  stood  they  were  only 
restored  to  half  their  rights  as  a  neutral  power.  By  the  law  of  na 
tions,  enemy's  goods  not  contraband  of  war,  purchased  and  owned 
by  neutrals,  are  lawful  subjects  of  trade  ;  but  there  lay  the  rub;  in 
the  exercise  or  non-exercise  of  this  right  was  involved  the  commer 
cial  jealousy  and  rivalry  of  the  two  nations.  The  United  States  did 
not  want  a  restoration  of  their  rights,  because  if  British  goods  un 
der  cover  of  the  American  flag  could  be  carried  to  the  continent,  it 
would  at  once  open  a  vast  and .  profitable  outlet  to  the  manufactures 
and  other  products  of  England,  now  locked  up  in  their  warehouses, 
and  would  cut  off  that  monopoly  enjoyed  by  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States  in  consequence  of  the  prohibition  laid  on  all  articles 
of  English  origin.  It  was  not  then  a  question  of  principle,  but  one 
of  pure  commercial  rivalry. 

England  urged  on  the  United  States  that  she  should  demand  a 
restoration  of  all  her  rights  as  a  neutral  nation  ;  the  United  States 
replied  that  they  had  been  restored  as  far  as  they  required,  and 
insisted  that  England  should  comply  with  her  pledges,  and  proceed 
pari  passu  with  France  in  the  repeal  of  her  orders  in  council.  The 
true  motives  for  the  persistence  of  both  in  their  demands,  were  very 
perceptible,  but  by  neither  were  avowed.  Here  then  was  the  whole 


CLAY— CALHOUN.  305 

question,  and  on  this  issue  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  resolv 
ed  to  go  to  war. 

But  in  the  position  assumed  by  the  British  ministry,  which  was 
certainly  plausible,  if  not  just,  they  were  not  sustained  by  the 
nation.  The  clamors  of  the  commercial  and  manufacturing  inter 
ests  were  heard  in  Parliament  and  by  the  Royal  cabinet.  There 
was  a  powerful  and  influential  party,  with  Canning  at  their  head 
that  demanded  a  repeal  of  the  orders  in  council ;  the  ministry  were 
dissolved,  and  a  commission  given  by  the  prince  regent  to  one  of 
the  opposition  party  to  form  a  cabinet  friendly  to  American  inter 
ests.  Owing  to  the  discordant  elements  of  the  opposition  itself,  and 
not  to  any  difficulty  on  this  question,  the  new  organization  did  not 
take  place  at  that  time,  but  these  circumstances  manifested  the  tem 
per  of  the  nation,  and  showed  plainly  that  the  obnoxious  measures 
of  government  must  soon  be  condemned  and  repealed.  These  facts 
were  known  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  before  the  declara 
tion  of  war,  and  they  must  have  convinced  any  reasonable  and 
candid  mind  that  a  favorable  change  in  the  posture  of  affairs  was  to 
be  expected  at  no  distant  period.  And  in  fact  on  the  23d  day  of 
June,  just  five  days  after  the  declaration  of  war,  it  was  ordered  and 
declared  by  the  prince  regent,  in  council,  "  that  the  order  in  coun 
cil,  bearing  date  the  7th  of  January,  1807,  and  the  order  in  council 
bearing  date  the  26th  of  April,  1809,  be  revoked,  so  far  as  may  re 
gard  American  vessels  and  their  cargoes,  being  American  property, 
from  the  first  day  of  August  next." 

The  embargo  that  was  laid  preparatory  to  war,  commenced  the 
4th  of  April,  and  was  to  last  ninety  days — until  the  4th  of  July. 
No  one  expected  war  to  be  declared  before  that  period.  Mr.  Madi 
son,  it  was  well  known,  wished  the  embargo  to  be  extended  to  four 
months  ;  that  is,  to  the  4th  of  August.  A  motion  was  actually  made 
in  the  House  to  this  effect,  but  was  rejected.  He  said,  that  if  at  the 
end  of  four  months  no  favorable  news  came  from  abroad,  he  would 
then  be  ready  to  recommend  a  declaration  of  war.  By  the  4th  of 
August,  news  came  of  the  repeal  of  the  orders  in  council !  Had 
his  inclinations  then  been  followed,  the  nation  might  have  been  saved 
from  all  the  disastrous  consequences  of  the  precipitate  action  of  Con 
gress. 

Mr.  Madison,  indeed,  was  not  favorable  to  the  embargo — it  was 


306  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

forced  upon  him.  "  I  am  confident  in  the  declaration,"  said  Mr. 
Randolph,  in  conclave,  "  that  this  is  not  a  measure  of  the  executive, 
but  that  it  is  .engendered  by  an  extensive  excitement  upon  the  exec 
utive."  The  relation  of  the  two  great  departments  of  government 
had  entirely  changed  from  what  it  was  in  the  days  of  Mr.  Jefferson  ; 
then  the  commanding  power  of  a  great  mind  and  a  determined  will 
gave  direction  to  all  the  measures  of  the  legislature,  but  now  the 
master-spirits  that  controlled  affairs  were  to  be  found  on  the  floor  of 
Congress.  The  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  the 
leading  member  of  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Affairs,  from  their 
position,  if  they  had  talents,  were  most  likely  to  exert  a  large  influ 
ence  over  the  proceedings  of  the  House.  The  persons  occupying 
those  stations  were  Henry  Clay  and  John  C.  Calhoun.  They  were 
both  possessed  of  great  minds,  endowed  with  extraordinary  powers  of 
eloquence,  were  young,  ardent,  ambitious,  and  for  the  first  time  mem 
bers  of  the  popular  branch  of  the  national  legislature.  In  the  excit 
ed  state  of  the  country,  a  better  field  could  not  have  been  found  for 
the  display  of  their  talents.  The  deep  enthusiasm  of  their  souls, 
the  chief  element  of  their  greatness,  enlivened  by  a  brilliant  imagi 
nation  in  the  one,  and  tempered  by  large  faculties  of  reason  in  the 
other,  gave  such  a  strength  and  boldness  to  their  thoughts,  that  they 
imparted  confidence  to  the  timid,  clearness  to  the  obscure,  and  infused 
a  portion  of  their  own  zeal  into  more  phlegmatic  natures, — none  could 
escape  the  contagion  of  their  influence. 

A  few  months  after  the  opening  of  Congress,  Mr.  Randolph, 
while  speaking  of  these  new  lights  of  the  administration,  said  to  a 
friend,  "  They  have  entered  this  House  with  their  eye  on  the  Presi 
dency,  and  mark  my  words,  sir,  we  shall  have  war  before  the  end  of 
the  session !"  Aside  from  the  aspiration  of  a  noble  mind  to  tread 
some  brilliant  and  high  career,  we  do  not  believe  they  had  any  selfish 
end  in  view.  Cold  and  calculating  natures  only  influence  others  by 
motives  akin  to  their  own.  Neither  calculation  nor  logic,  but  the 
sympathizing  impulses  of  a  great  soul,  can  deeply  move  the  masses 
of  mankind.  A  magnanimous  spirit,  animated  with  the  inspiring 
breath  of  a  whole  people,  may  go  forth  with  the  confidence  of  a 
Moses,  feeling  that  the  voice  of  the  people  is  the  voice  of  God.  But 
not  always  are  the  acts  even  of  a  great  nation  the  result  of  divine 
inspiration.  Sometimes  they  are  influenced  from  the  opposite  quar- 


CLAY— CALHOUN.  397 

ter  of  the  spiritual  world,  and  partake  more  of  the  demoniac  than 
the  godlike. 

The  mere  abstract  question  of  international  law  involved  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  if  left  to  a  court  of  admiralty 
and  a  jury  composed  of  citizens  of  the  world,  might  have  been  decid 
ed  against  them.  But  neither  courts  nor  attorneys  can  decide  the 
fate  of  empires. 

The  democracy  of  America,  which  constituted  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  of  America,  were  thoroughly  anti-British ;  a  common  ori 
gin  and  a  common  tongue  served  only  as  points  of  contrast.  There 
was  a  deep-rooted  antipathy  between  them  and  the  proud,  pampered 
aristocracy  of  England.  Their  sympathies  were  all  on  the  side  of 
France  and  her  struggles  for  liberty  ;  even  Bonaparte  came  in  for  a 
share  of  their  regard.  His  boldness,  his  humble  origin,  his  brilliant 
success,  shed  such  a  halo  of  glory  around  his  brow  as  to  obscure  the 
darker  features  of  his  tyrannical  nature.  Then  there  were  the  old 
memories  of  Bunker's  Hill,  Monmouth,  La  Fayette,  Rochambeau, 
and  Yorktown — these  household  themes  were  familiar  to  every  do 
mestic  fireside.  Add  the  long  catalogue  of  modern  grievances — the 
plunder  of  our  commerce,  the  capture  of  our  seamen,  the  insults  to 
our  national  flag,  the  insolence,  and  proud,  contemptuous  bearing  of 
British  officers  even  in  our  own  ports — this  is  too  much  !  we  will  not 
endure  it !  We  will  fight  rather  than  suffer  their  aristocratic  inso 
lence  any  longer — "  Free  trade  and  sailors'  rights  !  Grod  and  Liberty !" 
We  will  fight  for  these,  come  what  will  of  it !  We  will  teach  these 
insulting  English  better  manners,  or  blow  them  to  the  devil ! 

Such  was  the  universal  sentiment  throughout  the  vast  regions  of 
the  south  and  west.  Their  newspapers  and  their  popular  orators 
(who  was  not  an  orator  in  those  excited  times  ?)  proclaimed  Free  trade 
and  sailors'  rights !  Without  a  sailor  or  a  ship  on  the  sea,  the  fiery 
multitude  echoed  back,  Free  trade  and  sailor^  rights !  This  compre 
hensive  phrase  served  the  same  turn  now,  that  millions  for  defence^ 
not  a  cent  for  tribute^  had  served  on  a  former  occasion.  A  deep  sense 
of  indignation  and  wrong,  vaguely  shadowed  forth  in  that  expression 
'-'-free  trade  and  sailors*  rights"  pefvaded  the  whole  country.  It  was 
vain  to  argue  with  people  in  such  a  temper  ;  he  who  had  the  folly  to 
attempt  it  would  imagine  that  he  could  arrest  the  bellowing  thunder 
storm  on  the  point  of  a  bodkin.  Henry  Clay  and  John  C.  Calhoun 


308  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

were  the  representatives  of  these  excited  elements  on  the  floor  of 
Congress  ;  it  was  in  their  power  to  temper  these  impetuous  energies, 
and  to  have  served  as  conductors  to  the  surcharged  electric  fires  that 
threatened  momentary  explosion  ;  but  they  were  too  full  themselves 
of  the  same  fiery  impulses  to  repress  them  in  others  ;  they  boldly 
marched  forward  ;  and  knowing  and  feeling  that  the  people  were 
pressing  close  behind  them,  plunged  the  nation  headlong  into  a  ruin 
ous  war — we  do  not  mean  ruinous  in  a  military  sense — no  one  ever 
doubted  that  our  people,  sooner  or  later,  would  be  triumphant  in 
every  conflict,  by  land  and  by  sea.  The  energies  and  the  courage  of  a 
free  people  are  irrepressible  and  unconquerable — we  mean  disastrous 
in  the  sense  predicted  by  John  Randolph ;  disastrous  to  the  Consti 
tution  and  to  the  principles  of  the  people. 

Two  of  the  avowed  objects  of  this  war  were,  the  conquest  of  Ca 
nada,  and  the  plunder  of  the  high  seas  ;  ends  that  fostered  a  spirit  of 
aggression  and  of  retaliation  unbecoming  the  character  of  our  coun 
try  or  of  its  peaceful  institutions.  We  say  nothing  of  the  disturbance 
of  that  balance  of  power  between  the  States  and  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  so  necessary  for  their  just  and  harmonious  action,  which  was 
the  necessary  consequence  of  the  enormous  patronage  and  excessive 
energy  of  the  executive  in  the  time  of  a  foreign  war.  Exhausted  of 
its  resources  by  a  long  series  of  restrictive  measures,  the  nation  com 
menced  hostilities  with  borrowed  money ;  a  large  national  debt  was 
accumulated ;  a  depreciated,  ruinous,  demoralizing  paper  currency 
deluged  the  whole  land,  and  a  hot-bed  system  of  domestic  manufac 
tures  were  stimulated  into  existence,  at  the  expense  of  agriculture 
and  commerce,  which  were  the  natural  sources  of  wealth  and  pros 
perity  to  a  new,  wide-spread,  and  sparsely  populated  country. 

The  proclamation  of  peace  found  the  people  burdened  with  a  na 
tional  debt,  ruined  by  a  depreciated  currency,  corrupted,  as  far  as 
they  could  be  corrupted,  by  all  the  demoralizing  influences  which  for 
years  had  been  working  on  their  integrity  5  and  incumbered  with  in 
numerable  domestic  manufactures,  which,  like  Jonah's  gourd,  had 
sprung  up  in  a  night,  and  could  not  bear  the  rude  shocks  of  foreign 
competition  produced  by  returning  commerce. 

Those  who  brought  on  and  sustained  the  war  were  necessarily 
expected  to  find  a  remedy  for  the  evils  that  followed  in  its  train. 
The  same  master-spirits  who  conducted  the  war,  controlled  the  course 


CLAY— CALHOUN.  309 

of  legislation  for  years  after  the  restoration  of  peace.  They  recom 
mended  a  National  Bank  as  the  agent  for  managing  and  liquidating 
the  national  debt,  and  as  the  means  of  restoring  and  regulating  the 
currency ;  they  advocated  the  imposition  of  heavy  duties  on  the  im 
portation  of  foreign  goods,  as  the  means  of  producing  a  revenue  to 
pay  the  national  debt,  and  also  as  a  protection  to  those  infant  manu 
factures,  which,  since  the  death  of  their  nurses  and  foster-mother, 
non-intercourse,  embargo,  and  war,  would  be  left  entirely  exposed  to 
the  crushing  weight  of  maturer  rivals ;  and  as  these  enormous  duties 
were  likely  soon  to  furnish  means  to  pay  off  the  national  debt  and  to 
take  away  the  pretext  for  imposing  them,  a  convenient  sinking  fund 
was  found  in  a  system  of  internal  improvements  by  the  Federal 
Government.  These  were  the  remedies  furnished  by  the  advocates 
of  the  war  to  cure  the  evils  it  had  produced.  And  how  do  we  find 
them  1  just  such  as  the  federalists  would  have  recommended — gross 
violations  of  the  Constitution,  that  nothing  but  the  most  imperious 
necessity  could  tolerate,  are  established  into  precedents  and  made 
part  of  a  regular  system  of  legislation — vile  excrescences,  that  like  a 
cancer  had  eaten  into  the  heart  of  the  body  politic,  and  defaced  the 
fair  features  of  the  Constitution,  are  hailed  as  the  beautiful  outgrowth 
of  her  vital  functions. 

By  some  righteous  retribution  of  Providence  both  these  great  men 
— for  truly  great  they  were — have  been  punished  for  their  sins  in 
precipitating  a  war  that  might  have  been  retarded,  and  perhaps  honor 
ably  avoided,  and  for  violating  the  Constitution  to  find  a  remedy  for 
its  evils.  If  Randolph's  supposition  be  true,  they  both  failed  of  their 
end.  The  reason  is  very  plain — they  ceased  to  embody  the  senti 
ment  and  to  reflect  the  will  of  the  great  body  of  the  democracy,  when 
they  began  to  undermine  the  Constitution  to  find  a  remedy  for  evils 
they  had  inflicted  on  the  country,  and  became  the  advocates  of  special 
interests,  monopolies,  and  a  moneyed  aristocracy.  Mr.  Clay,  with  a 
zeal  and  perseverance  worthy  of  a  better  cause,  labored  all  his  days 
to  force  his  miscalled  American  System  as  a  permanent  institution 
on  the  country :  but  the  people  were  against  him,  and  not  one  of  his 
measures  can  now  be  found  on  the  statute  book. 

Mr.  Calhoun,  when  too  late,  saw  and  acknowledged  the  error  of 
his  ways,  and  in  a  desperate  effort  to  retrieve  his  own  section  of  the 


310  LIFE  OF  JOHN  RANDOLPH. 

country  from  the  evil  consequences  of  his  own  measures,  well  nigh 
involved  the  whole  in  civil  war  and  ruin. 

But,  for  the  time  being,  they  rode  triumphantly  on  the  full  tide 
of  popularity,  while  Randolph,  who  foresaw  and  warned  them  of  the 
consequences  of  their  rash  measures,  was  driven  into  retirement. 
All  the  powers  of  two  administrations  and  the  political  presses  in 
their  employment,  the  government  at  "Washington,  and  the  govern 
ment  at  home  in  his  native  State,  were  employed  to  crush  and  destroy 
him.  John  W.  Eppes,  the  most  distinguished  and  experienced 
leader  of  the  administration  party,  was  induced  to  make  his  residence 
in  the  county  of  Buckingham,  that  Randolph  might  have  the  most 
able  and  formidable  opposition  the  country  could  afford.  These  two 
men,  who  had  been  friends  and  companions  in  their  youth,  and  rival 
leaders  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  met  for  the  first  time,  in  1811,  as 
candidates  for  the  suffrages  of  the  same  people.  But  the  long  ser 
vices  of  their  old  servant  were  triumphant  on  this  occasion.  Again 
they  met,  in  the  spring  of  1813;  times  had  changed;  the  country 
was  involved  in  war,  and  all  its  resources  were  pledged  to  a  suc 
cessful  issue ;  redoubled  efforts  must  now  be  made  to  drive  him  from 
the  councils  of  the  nation,  who  had  opposed  its  measures,  and  fore 
boded  nothing  but  evil  as  their  consequence.  Never  was  a  political 
canvass  conducted  with  more  animation.  In  Buckingham,  Mr.  Ran 
dolph  was  threatened  with  personal  violence  if  he  attempted  to  ad 
dress  the  people.  Some  of  the  older  and  more  prudent  persons 
advised  him  to  retire,  and  not  appear  in  public.  "  You  know  very 
little  of  me,"  said  he,  "  or  you  would  not  give  such  advice."  He  was 
a  man  incapable  of  fear.  Soon  proclamation  was  made  that  Mr.  Ran 
dolph  would  address  the  people.  A  dense  throng  gathered  around  ; 
he  mounted  the  hustings ;  on  the  outskirts  there  hung  a  lowering  and 
sullen  crowd  that  evidently  meditated  insult  or  violence  on  the  first 
opportunity ;  he  commenced :  "  I  understand  that  I  am  to  be  insulted 
to-day  if  I  attempt  to  address  the  people — that  a  mob  is  prepared  to 
lay  their  rude  hands  upon  me  and  drag  me  from  these  hustings,  for 
daring  to  exercise  the  rights  of  a  freeman."  Then  fixing  his  keen 
eye  on  the  malcontents,  and  stretching  out  and  slowly  waving  his 
long  fore-finger  towards  them,  he  continued  :  "  My  Bible  teaches  me 
that  the  fear  of  G-od  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  but  that  the  fear  of 
man  is  the  consummation  of  folly."  He  then  turned  to  the  people, 


CLAY— CALHOUN.  311 

and  went  on  with  his  discourse.  No  one  dared  to  disturb  him — 
his  spell  was  upon  them — like  the  Ancient  Mariner,  "  he  held  them 
with  his  glittering  eye,"  and  made  them  listen  against  their  will  to 
the  story'  of  their  country's  wrongs,  and  to  feel  that  deep  wounds  had 
been  inflicted  in  the  sides  of  her  constitution  by  those  that  now 
sought  his  political  destruction,  if  not  his  life. 

Mr.  Randolph  made  extraordinary  exertions  during  this  canvass ; 
he  felt  that  something  more  than  his  own  success  or  his  own  repu 
tation  were  staked  on  the  issue,  and  never  was  he  more  powerful, 
more  commanding,  more  overwhelming  in  his  eloquence. 

In  his  favorite  county  of  Prince  Edward,  where  the  people  loved 
him  like  a  brother,  he  surpassed  even  himself.  A  young  man,  who 
was  a  student  in  a  neighboring  college,  declares  that  he  stood  on  his 
feet  for  three  hours  unconscious  of  the  flight  of  time — that  he  never 
heard  such  burning  words  fall  from  the  lips  of  man,  and  was  borne 
along  on  the  tide  of  his  impassioned  eloquence  like  a  feather  on  the 
bosom  of  a  cataract.  When  he  had  ceased — when  his  voice  was  no 
longer  heard,  and  his  form  had  disappeared  in  the  throng,  no  one 
moved — the  people  stood  still  as  though  they  had  been  shocked  by  a 
stroke  of  lightning — their  fixed  eyes  and  pallid  cheeks  resembled 
marble  statues,  or  petrified  Roman  citizens  in  the  forum  of  Pompeii 
or  Herculaneum. 

But  it  was  all  in  vain  ;  the  overwhelming  pressure  from  without 
was  more  than  even  Charlotte  District  could  withstand ;  and  their 
favorite  son  was  compelled  to  retire  for  a  short  time,  while  the  storm 
of  war  was  passing  over  the  land,  and  to  seek  repose  in  the  shades  of 
Roanoke.  How  magnanimously  he  bore  this  defeat  shall  be  made 
known  in  the  following  chapters. 


END  OF  VOL.  I. 


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THE    LIFE 
MARTIN     LUTHER, 

GATHERED  PROM  HIS  OWN  WRITINGS 

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composed  of  a  series  of  translations.     Excepting  that  portion  of  it  which  has  refer- 

enee  to  his  childhood,  and  which  Luther  himself  has  left  undescribed,  the  translator 

has  rarely  found  occasion  to  make  his  own  appearance  on  the  scene.    ***** 

It  is  almost  invariably  Luther  himself  who  speaks,  almost  invariably  Luther  related 

%y  Luther.—  Extract  from  M.  MicMet'a  Prtfaee. 

THE  PEOPLE. 

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teeeive  thov  uta  book  of  "  The  People,"  because  it  is  you—  because  it  is  I.    •    • 

\  hare  made  this  book  out  of  myself,  out  of  my  life,  and  out  of  my  heart    I  have 

derived  it  from  my  observation,  from  my  relations  of  friendship  and  of  neighborhood; 

>iavo  pieked  it  op  upon  the  roads.     Chance  loves  to  favor  those  who  follow  oat  OM 

tontiruous  idea.    Above  all,  I  have  found  it  in  the  recollections  of  my  youth.    T« 

know  the  life  of  the  people,  their  labor  and  their  sufferings,  I  had  but  to  interrogate 

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A  MANUAL 

OP 

GRECIAN  AND  ROMAN  ANTIQUITIES. 

BY  DR.   E.    F.  BOJESEN, 

Professor  of  the  Greek  Language  and  Literature  in  the  University  of  Soro. 
Translated  from  the  German. 

EDITED,   WITH   NOTES   AND   A   COMPLETE   SERIES  OF  QUESTIONS,  BY  TBH 

REV.  THOMAS  K.  ARNOLD,  M.  A. 
REVISED  WITH  ADDITIONS  AND  CORRECTIONS. 

One  neat  volume,  12mo.    Price  SI. 

The  present  Manual  of  Greek  and  Roman  Antiquities  is  far  superior  to  any  tfjing  on  the 
same  topics  as  yet  offered  to  the  American  public.  A  principal  Review  of  Germany  says  :— 
"Small  as  he  compass  of  it  is,  we  may  confidently  affirm  that  it  is  a  great  improvement  on  all 
preceding  worus  of  the  kind.  We  no  longer  meet  with  the  wretched  old  method,  in  which  sub 
jects  essentially  distinct  are  herded  together,  and  connected  subjects  disconnected,  but  have  a 
simple,  systematic  arrangement,  by  which  the  reader  easily  receives  a  clear  representation  ol 
Roman  life.  We  ^»  longer  stumble  against  countless  errors  in  detail,  which  though  long  ago 
assailed  and  extirpated  by  Niebuhrand  others,  have  found  their  last  place  of  refuge  in  our  Ma 
nuals.  The  recent  investigations  of  philologists  and  jurists  have  been  extensively,  but  carefully 
and  circumspectly  used.  The  conciseness  and  precision  which  the  author  has  every  where 
prescribed  to  himself,  prevents  the  superficial  observer  from  perceiving  the  essential  superiority 
of  the  book  to  its  predecessors,  but  whoever  subjects  it  to  a  careful  examination  will  discover 
this  on  every  page." 

The  Editor  says : — "  I  fully  believe  that  the  pupil  will  receive  from  these  little  works  a 
correct  and  tolerably  complete  picture  of  Grecian  and  Roman  life;  what  I  may  call  the  POLI 
TICAL  portions— the  account  of  the  national  constitutions  and  their  effects — appear  to  me  to  be 
of  great  value ;  and  the  very  moderate  extent  of  each  volume  admits  of  its  being  thoroughly 
mastered— of  it?  being  GOT  UP  and  RETAINED." 

"  A  work  long  needed  in  our  schools  and  colleges.  The  manuals  of  Rennet,  Adam,  Potter, 
and  Robinson,  with  ..->e  more  recent  and  valuable  translation  of  Eschenburg,  were  entirely  too 
voluminous.  Here  is  nc  :her  too  much,  nor  too  little.  The  arrangement  is  admirable — every 
subject  is  treated  of  in  its  proper  place.  We  have  the  general  Geography,  a  succinct  historical 
view  of  the  general  subject ;  the  chirography,  history,  laws,  manners,  customs,  and  religion  of 
each  State,  as  well  i'*the  points  of  union  for  all,  beautifully  arranged.  We  regard  the  work  aa 
the  very  best  adjunc  to  classical  study  for  youth  that  we  have  seen,  and  sincerely  hope  that 
•-eachers  may  be  bri  rfht  to  regard  it  in  the  same  light.  The  whole  is  copiously  digested  into 
appropriate  questions." — S.  Lit.  Gazette. 

From  Professor  Lincoln,  of  Brown  University, 

"  I  found  on  my  table  after  a  short  absence  from  home,  your  edition  of  Bojesen'a  Greek  and 
Roman  Antiquities.  Pray  accept  my  acknowledgments  for  it.  I  am  agreeably  surprised  to 
find  on  examining  it,  that  within  so  very  narrow  a  compass  for  so  comprehensive  a  sufc.iect,  the 
book  contains  so  much  valuable  matter ;  and,  indeed,  so  far  as  I  see,  omits  noticing  no  topics  es 
sential.  It  will  be  a  very  useful  book  in  Schools  and  Colleges,  and  it  is  far  superior  to  any  thing 
that  I  know  of  the  same  kind.  Besides  being  cheap  and  accessible  to  all  students,  it  has  the 
great  merit  of  discussing  its  topics  in  a  consecutive  and  connected  manner." 

Extract  of  a  letter  from  Professor  Tyler,  of  Amherst  College. 

"I  have  never  found  time  till  lately  to  look  over  Bojesen's  Antiquities,  of  which  you  were 
kind  enough  to  send  me  a  copy.  I  think  it  an  excellent  book  ;  learned,  accurate,  concise,  and 
perspicuous ;  well  adapted  for  use  in  the  Academy  or  the  College,  and  comprehending  in  a 
•mall  compass,  more  that  ia  valuable  on  the  subject  than  many  extended  treatises." 

3 


fttgltsjr. 
HAND  BOOK 


OF 

MEDIAEVAL  GEOGRAPHY  AND  HISTORY. 

BY 

WILHELM    PUTZ, 

PRINCIPAL  TUTOR  IN  THE  GYMNASIUM  OF  DUREN. 

Translated  from  the  German  by 
REV,  R,  B,  PAUL,  M,  A,, 

Vicar  of  St.  Augustine's,  Bristol,  and  late  Fellow  of  Exeter  College,  Oxford. 
1  volume,  12mo.    75  cts. 
HEADS    OF    CONTENTS. 

I.  Germany  before  the  Migrations. 
II.  The  Migrations. 

THE   MIDDLE   AGES. 

FIRST  PERIOD.— From  the  Dissolution  of  the  Western  Empire  to  the  Accession  of  the  Carlorin. 
gians  and  Abbasides. 

SECOND  PERIOD.— From  the  Accession  of  the  Carlovingians  and  Abbasides  to  the  first  Crusade. 

THIRD  PERIOD. — Age  of  the  Crusades. 

FOURTH  PERIOD.— From  the  Termination  of  the  Crusades  to  the  Discovery  of  America. 

"  The  characteristics  of  this  volume  are :  precision,  condensation,  and  luminous  arrangement. 
It  is  precisely  what  it  pretends  to  be— a  manual,  a  sure  and  conscientious  guide  for  the  student 
through  the  crooks  and  tangles  of  Mediaeval  history.  *  *  *  *  All  the  great  principles  of  this 
extensive  Peiiod  are  carefully  laid  down,  and  the  most  important  facts  skilfully  grouped  around 
them.  There  is  no  period  of  History  for  which  it  is  more  difficult  to  prepare  a  work  like  this, 
and  none  for  which  it  is  so  much  needed.  The  leading  facts  are  well  established,  but  they  are 
scattered  over  an  immense  space ;  the  principles  are  ascertained,  but  their  development  was 
slow,  unequal,  and  interrupted.  There  is  a  general  breaking  up  of  a  great  body,  and  a  parcelling 
of  it  out  among  small  tribes,  concerning  whom  we  have  only  a  few  general  data,  and  are  left  to 
analogy  and  conjecture  for  the  details.  Then  come  successive  attempts  at  organization,  each 
more  or  less  independent,  and  all  very  imperfect.  At  last,  modern  Europe  begins  slowly  to 
emerge  from  the  chaos,  but  still  under  forms  which  the  most  diligent  historian  cannot  always 
comprehend.  To  reduce  such  materials  to  a  clear  and  definite  form  is  a  task  of  no  small  diffi 
culty,  and  in  which  partial  success  deserves  great  praise.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  has 
never  been  so  well  done  within  a  compass  so  easily  mastered,  as  in  the  little  volume  which  is 
now  offered  to  the  public." — Extract  from  American  Preface. 

"  This  translation  of  a  foreign  school-book  embraces  a  succinct  and  well  arranged  body  of 
facts  concerning  European  and  Asiatic  history  and  geography  during  the  middle ~ages.  It  is 
furnished  with  printed  questions,  and  it  seems  to  bf?  well  adapted  to  its  purpose,  in  all  respects. 
The  medieeval  period  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  in  the  annals  of  the  world,  and  a  knowledge 
of  its  great  men,  and  of  its  progress  in  arts,  arms,  government  and  religion,  is  particularly  im 
portant,  since  this  period  is  the  basis  of  our  own  social  polity." — Commercial  Advertiser. 

"This  is  an  immense  amount  of  research  condensed  into  a  moderately  sized  volume,  in  a  way 
which  no  one  has  patience  to  do  but  a  German  scholar.  The  beauty  of  the  work  is  its  luminous 
arrangement.  It  is  a  guide  to  the  student  amidst  the  intricacy  of  Mediaeval  History,  the  most 
difficult  period  of  the  world  to  understand,  when  the  Roman  Empire  was  breaking  up  and  par 
celling  out  into  smaller  kingdoms,  and  every  thing  was  in  a  transition  state.  It  was  a  period  of 
chaos  from  which  modern  Europe  was  at  length  to  arise. 

The  author  has  briefly  taken  up  the  principal  political  and  social  influences  whicl"  were 
acting  on  society,  and  shown  their  bearing  from  the  time  previous  to  the  migrations  of  the 
Northern  nations,  down  through  the  middle  ages  to  the  sixteenth  century.  The  notes  on  the 
crusades  are  particularly  valuable,  and  the  range  of  observation  embraces  not  only  Europe  but 
the  East.  To  the  student  it  will  be  a  most  valuable  Hand-book,  saving  him  a  world  of  troubla 
ID  hunting  up  authorities  and  facts."-  -Rev.  Dr.  Kip,  in  Albany  State  Register. 


MANUAL 

OF  » 

ANCIENT  GEOGRAPHY  AND  HISTORY. 

BY  WILHELM   PUTZ, 

PRINCIPAL   TUTOR   IN   THE   GYMNASIUM   OF   DUREN. 

Translated  from  the  German. 

EDITED    BY   THE    REV.    THOMAS    K.    ARNOLD,  M.  A., 

AUTHOR  OP   A    SERIES    OP   "GREEK   AND    LATIN    TEXT-BOOKS." 

One  volume,  12mo.    $1. 

"  At  no  period  has  History  presented  such  strong  claims  upon  the  attention  of  the  learned,  ta 
*t  the  present  day  ;  and  to  no  people  were  its  lessons  of  such  value  as  to  those  of  the  United 
States.  With  no  past  of  our  own  to  revert  to,  the  great  masses  of  our  better  educated  are  tempted 
".o  overlook  a  science,  which  comprehends  all  others  in  its  grasp.  To  prepare  a  text-book,  which 
shall  present  a  full,  clear,  and  accurate  view  of  the  ancient  world,  its  geography,  its  political) 
civil,  social,  religious  state,  must  be  the  result  only  of  vast  industry  and  learning.  Our  exami 
nation  of  the  present  volume  leads  us  to  believe,  that  as  a  text-book  on  Ancient  History,  for  Col 
leges  and  Academies,  it  is  the  best  compend  yet  published.  It  bears  marks  in  its  melfcodical 
arrangement,  and  condensation  of  materials,  of  the  untiring  patience  of  German  scholarship ;  and 
in  its  progress  through  the  English  and  American  press,  has  been  adapted  for  acceptable  use  in 
pur  best  institutions.  A  noticeable  feature  of  the  book,  is  its  pretty  complete  list  of  '  sources  ol 
information'  upon  the  nations  which  it  describes.  This  will  be  an  invaluable  aid  to  the  student 
in  his  future  course  of  reading." 

"  Wilhelm  Piitz,  the  author  of  this  'Manual  of  Ancient  Geography  and  History,'  is  Principal 
Tutor  (Ober/eher)  in  the  Gymnasium  of  Duren,  Germany.  His  book  exhibits  the  advantages  ol 
the  German  method  of  treating  History,  in  its  arrangement,  its  classification,  and  its  rigid  analy 
sis.  The  Manual  is  what  it  purports  to  be,  '  a  clear  and  definite  outline  of  the  history  of  the 
principal  nations  of  antiquity,'  into  which  is  incorporated  a  concise  geography  of  each  country. 
The  work  is  a  text-book ;  to  be  studied,  and  not  merely  read.  It  is  to  form  the  groundwork  ol 
subsequent  historical  investigation, — the  materials  of  which  are  pointed  out,  at  the  proper  places, 
in  the  Manual,  in  careful  references  to  the  works  which  treat  of  the  subject  directly  under  con 
sideration.  The  list  of  references  (especially  as  regards  earlier  works)  is  quite  complete, — thus 
supplying  that  desideratum  in  Ancient  History  and  Geography,  which  has  been  supplied  so  fully 
by  Dr.  J.  C.  I.  Gieseler  in  Ecclesiastical  History. 

"  The  nations  whose  history  is  considered  in  the  Manual,  are  :  in  Asia,  the  Israelites,  the  In 
dians,  the  Babylonians,  the  Assyrians,  the  Medes,  the  Persians,  the  Phoenicians,  the  States  of  Asia 
Minor;  in  Africa,  the  Ethiopians,  the  Egyptians,  the  Carthaginians;  in  Europe,  the  Greeks,  the 
Macedonians,  the  Kingdoms  which  arose  out  of  the  Macedonian  Monarchy,  the  Romans.  The 
order  in  which  the  history  of  each  is  treated,  is  admirable.  To  the  whole  are  appended  a  '  Chro 
nological  Table,'  and  a  well-prepared  series  of  'Questions.'  The  pronunciation  of  proper 
names  is  indicated, — an  excellent  feature.  The  accents  are  given  with  remarkable  correctness. 
The  typographical  execution  of  the  American  edition  is  most  excellent." — S.  W.Baptist  Chronicle. 

"  Like  every  thing  which  proceeds  from  the  editorship  of  that  eminent  Instructor,  T.  K.  Arnold, 
this  Manual  appears  to  be  well  suited  to  the  design  with  which  it  was  prepared,  and  will,  un 
doubtedly,  secure  for  itself  a  place  among  the  text-books  of  schools  and  academies  thoughout  the 
country.  It  presents  an  outline  of  the  history  of  the  ancient  nations,  from  the  earliest  ages  to  the 
fall  of  the  Western  Empire  in  the  sixth  century,  the  events  being  arranged  in  the  order  of  an 
accurate  chronology,  and  explained  by  accompanying  treatises  on  the  geography  of  the  several 
eountries  in  which  they  transpired.  The  chief  feature  of  this  work,  and  this  is  a  very  important 
one,  is,  that  it  sets  forth  ancient  history  and  ancient  geography  in  their  connection  with  each 
other. 

"  It  was  originally  prepared  by  Wilhelm  Putz,  an  eminent  German  scholar,  and  translated  and 
edited  in  England  by  Rev.  T.  K.  Arnold,  and  is  now  revised  and  introduced  to  the  American 
public  in  a  well  written  preface,  by  Mr.  George  W.  Greene,  Teacher  of  Modern  Languages  i» 
Irown  University."— Prov.  Journal. 

6 


COURSE  OF  MATHEMATICAL  WORKS, 

BY  GEORGE  R.  PERKINS,  A.M., 

Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Principal  of  the  State  Normal  School 

I.    PRIMARY  ARITHMETIC.    Price  21  cts. 

A  want,  with  young  pupils,  of  rapidity  and  accuracy  in  performing  operations  upon  written 
numbers;  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  Numeration  ;  inadequate  conceptions  of  the  nature  and 
relations  of  Fractions,  and  a  lack  of  familiarity  with  the  principles  of  Decimals,  have  induced 
the  author  to  prepare  the  PRIMARY  ARITHMETIC. 

The  first  part  is  devoted  to  MENTAL  EXERCISES,  and  the  second  to  Exercises  on  the  Slate 
and  Blackboard. 

While  the  minds  of  young  pupils  are  disciplined  by  mental  exercises  (if  not  wearisomely 
prolonged),  they  fail,  in  general,  in  trusting  to  "  head-work  "  for  their  calculations ;  uid  in  re- 
eorting  to  written  operations  to  solve  their  difficulties,  are  often  slow  and  inaccurate  from  a  want 
of  early  familiarity  with  such  processes :  these  considerations  have  induced  the  Author  to  devote 
part  of  his  book  to  primary  written  exercises. 

It  has  been  received  with  more  popularity  than  any  Arithmetic  heretofore  issued. 

II.    ELEMENTARY  ARITHMETIC.    Price  42  cts. 

Has  recently  been  carefully  revised  and  enlarged.  It  will  be  found  concise,  yet  lucid.  It  reaches 
the  radical  relations  of  numbers,  and  presents  fundamental  principles  in  analysis  and  examples. 
It  leaves  nothing  obscure,  yet  it  does  not  embarrass  by  multiplied  processes,  nor  enfeeble  by 
minute  details. 

In  this  work  all  of  the  examples  or  problems  are  strictly  practical,  made  up  as  they  are  in  a 
great  measure  of  important  statistics  and  valuable  facjs  in  history  and  philosophy,  which  are 
thus  unconsciously  learned  in  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  Arithmetic. 

Fractions  are  placed  immediately  after  Division  ;  Federal  Money  is  treated  as  and  with  De 
cimal  Fractions;  Proportion  is  placed  before  Fellowship,  Alligation,  and  such  rules  as  require 
its  application  in  their  solution.  Every  rule  is  marked  with  verity  and  simplicity.  The  an 
swers  to  all  of  the  examples  are  given. 

The  work  will  be  found  -to  be  an  improvement  on  most,  if  not  all,  previous  elementary 
Arithmetics  in  the  treatment  of  Fractions,  Denominate  Numbers,  Rule  of  Three,  Interest,  Equa 
tion  of  Payments,  Extraction  of  Roots,  and  many  other  subjects. 

Wherever  this  work  is  presented,  the  publishers  have  heard  but  one  opinion  in  regard  to  its 
merits,  and  that  most  favorable. 

III.    HIGHER  ARITHMETIC.    Price  84  cts. 

The  present  edition  has  been  revised,  many  subjects  rewritten,  and  much  new  matter  added ; 
and  contains  an  APPENDIX  of  about  60  pages,  in  which  the  philosophy  of  the  more  difficult 
operations  and  interesting  properties  of  numbers  are  fully  discussed.  The  work  is  what  its  name 


purports,  a  Higher  Arithmetic,  and  will  be  found  to  contain  many  entirely  new  principles  which 
have  never  before  appeared  in  any  Arithmetic.  It  has  received  the  strongest  recommendations 
from  hundreds  of  the  best  teachers  the  country  affords. 

IV.    ELEMENTS  OF  ALGEBRA.    Price  84  cts, 

This  work  is  an  introduction  to  the  Author's  "  Treatise  on  Algebra,"  and  is  designed  espe 
dally  for  the  use  of  Common  Schools,  and  universally  pronounced  "  admirably  adapted  to  th» 
purpose." 

V.    TREATISE  ON  ALGEBRA.     Price  SI  50. 

This  work  contains  the  higher  parts  of  Algebra  usually  taught  in  Colleges ;  a  new  method 
of  cubic  and  higher  equations  as  well  as  the  THEOREM  OP  STURM,  by  which  we  may  at  one* 
determine  the  number  of  real  roots  of  any  Algebraic  Equation,  wi'Ji  much  more  ease  than  by 
previously  discovered  method. 

In  the  present  revised  edition,  one  entire  chapter  on  the  subject  of  CONTINTTBD  FRACTIONS 
has  been  added. 

VI.    ELEMENTS  OF  GEOMETRY,  WITH  PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS.    SI. 

The  author  has  added  throughout  the  entire  Work,  PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS,  which,  in  the 
estimation  of  Teachers,  is  an  important  consideration. 

An  eminent  Professor  of  Mathematics,  in  speaking  of  this  work,  says :  "  We  have  adopted 
it,  because  it  follows  more  closely  the  best  model  of  pure  geometrical  reasoning,  which  ever  has 
been,  and  perhaps  ever  will  be  exhibited  ;  and  because  the  Author  has  condensed  some  of  the 
important  principles  of  the  great  master  of  Geometricians,  and  more  especially  has  shown  that 
his  theorems  are  not  mere  theory,  by  many  practical  applications  :  a  quality  in  a  text-book  9' 
this  science  no  less  uncommon  than  it  is  important." 

6 


HISTOEICAL 

AND 

MISCELLANEOUS    QUESTIONS. 

BY  RICHMALL  MANGNALL. 

First  American,  from  the  Eighty-fourth  London  Edition.    With  large  Addition* 

Embracing  the  Elements  of  Mythology,  Astronomy,  Architecture, 

Heraldry,  &c.    Adapted  for  Schools  in  the  United  States 

BY  MRS.  JULIA  LAWRENCE. 
Illustrated  with  numerous  Engravings.     One  Volume,  12mo.     $1. 

CONTENTS. 

A  Short  View  of  Scripture  History,  from  the  Creation  to  the  Return  of  the  Jewa-^-Questiona 
from  the  Early  Ages  to  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar— Miscellaneous  Questions  in  Grecian  History 
— Miscellaneous  Questions  in  General  History,  chiefly  Ancient — Questions  containing  a  Sketch 
of  the  most  remarkable  Events  from  the  Christian  Era  to  the  close  of  the  Eighteenth  Century- 
Miscellaneous  Questions  in  Roman  History — Questions  in  English  History,  from  the  Invasion  of 
Caesar  to  the  Reformation — Continuation  of  Questions  in  English  History,  from  the  Reformation 
to  the  Present  Time — Abstract  of  Early  British  History — Abstract  of  English  Reigns  from  the 
Conquest — Abstract  of  the  Scottish  Reigns — Abstract  of  the  French  Reigns,  from  Pharamond  to 
Philip  I — Continuation  of  the  French  Reigns?  from  Louis  VI  to  Louis  Phillippe — Questions  Re 
lating  to  the  History  of  America,  from  its  Discovery  to  the  Present  Time — Abstract  of  Roman 
Kings  and  most  distinguished  Heroes — Abstract  of  the  most  celebrated  Grecians— Of  Heathen 
Mythology  in  general— Abstract  of  Heathen  Mythology— The  Elements  of  Astronomy— Expia 
tion  of  a  few  Astronomical  Terms — List  of  Constellations — Questions  on  Common  Subjects — 
Questions  on  Architecture — Questions  on  Heraldry — Explanations  of  such  Latin  Words  and 
Phrases  as  are  seldom  Englished — Questions  on  the  History  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

"  This  is  an  admirable  work  to  aid  both  teachers  and  parents  in  instructing  children  and  youth, 
and  there  is  no  Work  of  the  kind  that  we  have  seen  that  is  so  well  calculated  "  to  awaken  a  spirit 
of  laudable  curiosity  in  young  minds,"  and  to  satisfy  that  curiosity  when  awakened." 


HISTOEY  OF  ENGLAND, 

From  the  Invasion  of  Julius  Caesar  to  the  Reign  of  Queen  Victoria. 

BY   MRS.  MARKHAM. 

A  new  Edition,  with  Questions,  adapted  for  Schools  in  the  United  States. 

BY  ELIZA  ROBBINS, 

Author  of  "American  Popular  Lessons,"  "  Poetry  for  Schools,"  $c. 

One  Volume,  I2mo.     Price  75  cents. 

There  is  nothing  more  needed  in  our  schools  than  good  histories ;  not  the  dry  compencte  it 
present  use,  bat  elementary  works  that  shall  suggest  the  moral  uses  of  history,  and  the  provi 
dence  of  God,  manifest  in  the  affairs  of  men. 

Mr.  Markham's  history  was  used  by  that  model  for  all  teachers,  the  late  Dr.  Arnold,  mastei 
of  the  great  English  school  at  Rugby,  and  agrees  in  its  character  with  his  enlightened  and  piow 
view*  of  teaching  history.  It  is  now  several  years  since  I  adapted  this  history  to  the  form  an<? 
price  acceptable  in  the  schools  in  the  United  States.  I  have  recently  revised  it,  and  trust  that  i« 
may  be  extensively  serviceable  in  education. 

The  principal  alterations  from  the  original  are  a  new  and  more  convenient  division  of  para 
graphs,  and  entire  omission  of  the  conversations  annexed  to  the  chapters.  In  the  place  of  these 
I  bave  affixed  questions  to  every  page  that  may  at  once  facilitate  the  work  of  the  teacher  and 
the  pupil.  The  rational  and  moral  features  of  this  book  first  commended  it  to  me,  and  I  have 
used  it  successfully  with  my  own  scholars.— Extract  from  the  American  Editor's  Preface. 

12 


THE 

FIRST    HISTORY    OF    ROME, 

WITH  QUESTIONS. 

BY   E.    M.   SEWELL, 

Author  of  Amy  Herbert,  &c.,  &c.    One  volume,  16mo.    50  cts. 
Extract  from  Editor's  Preface. 

"  History  is  the  narrative  of  real  events  in  the  order  and  circumstances  in  which  they  oc 
curred  ;  and  of  all  histories,  that  of  Rome  comprises  a  series  of  events  more  interesting  and  in 
structive  to  youthful  readers  than  any  other  that  has  ever  been  written. 

"  Of  the  manner  in  which  Mrs.  Sewell  has  executed  this  work,  we  can  scarcely  speak  in 
terms  of  approbation  too  strong.  Drawing  her  materials  from  the  best— that  is  to  say,  the  most 
reliable — sources,  she  has  incorporated  them  in  a  narrative  at  once  unostentatious,  perspicuous, 
and  graphic ;  manifestly  aiming  throughout  to  be  cleariy  understood  by  those  for  whom  she 
wrote,  and  to  impress  deeply  and  permanently  on  their  minds  what  she  wrote ;  and  in  both  of 
these  aims  we  think  she  has  been  eminently  successful." 

Norfolk  Academy,  Norfolk,  Va. 

I  must  thank  you  for  a  copy  of  "Miss  Sewell's  Roman  History."  Classical  teachers  have 
long  needed  just  such  a  work :  for  it  is  admitted  by  all  how  essential  to  a  proper  comprehension 
of  the  classics  is  a  knowledge  of  collateral  history.  Yet  most  pupils  are  construing  authors  be 
fore  reaching  an  age  to  put  into  their  hands  the  elaborate  works  we  have  heretofore  had  upon 
Ancient  History.  Miss  Sewell,  while  she  gives  the  most  important  facts,  has  clothed  them  in  a 
style  at  once  pleasing  and  comprehensible  to  the  most  youthful  mind. 

R.  B.  TSCHUDI, 

Prof,  of  Anc't  Languages. 


THE 

MYTHOLOGY  OP  ANCIENT  GREECE  AND  ITALY, 

FOR  THE  USE  OF  SCHOOLS. 

BY    THOMAS    KEIGHTLEY. 

One  vol.  16mo.    42  cts. 

"  This  is  a  volume  well  adapted  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  prepared.  It  presents,  in  a 
very  compendious  and  convenient  form,  every  thing  relating  to  the  subject,  of  importance  to  the 
young  student." 


OBNBBAL 

HISTORY  OF  CIVILIZATION  IN  EUROPE, 

FROM  THE  FALL  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  TO  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION. 
BY    M.    GUIZOT. 

Eighth  American,  from  the  second  English  edition,  with  occasional  Notes,  by  C.  S.  HENRY,  D.D. 
One  volume,  12mo.    75  cts. 

"  M.  Guizot,  in  his  instructive  lectures,  has  given  us  an  epitome  of  modern  history,  distin 
guished  by  all  the  merit  which,  in  another  department,  renders  Blackstone  a  subject  of  such 
peculiar  and  unbounded  praise.  A  work  closely  condensed,  including  nothing  useless,  omit 
ting  nothing  essential ;  written  with  grace,  and  conceived  and  arranged  with  consummate 
ability."— Boston  Traveller. 

U3  '  This  work  is  used  in  Harvard  University,  Union  College,  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  New-  York  University,  fee.  Sec. 

13 


ENGLISH   SYNONYMES, 

CLASSIFIED  AND  EXPLAINED, 

WITH 

PRACTICAL  EXERCISES. 

DESIGNED   FOR   SCHOOLS   AND   PRIVATE   TUITION. 
BY   G.   F.   GRAHAM, 

Author  of '  English,  or  the  Art  of  Composition,'  &c. 
WITH   AN   INTRODUCTION   AND   ILLUSTRATIVE   AUTHORITIES, 

BY    HENRY    REED,    LL.D., 

Prof,  of  English  Literature  in  the  University  of  Penn. 

One  neat  Vol.  12mo.  $1. 

CONTENTS.— SECTION  I.  Generic  and  Specific  Synonymes.  II.  Active 
and  Passive  Synonymes.  HI.  Synonymes  of  Intensity.  IV.  Positive 
and  Negative  Synonymes.  V.  Miscellaneous  Synonymes.  Index  to 
Synonymes.  General  Index. 

Extract  from  American  Introduction. 

"  This  treatise  is  republished  and  edited  with  the  hope  that  it  will  be  found  useful  as  a  text 
book  in  the  study  of  our  own  language.  As  a  subject  of  instruction,  the  study  of  the  English 
tongue  does  not  receive  that  amount  of  systematic  attention  which  is  due  to  it,  whether  it  be 
combined  or  no  with  the  study  of  the  Greek  and  Latin.  In  the  usual  courses  of  education,  it  has 
no  larger  scope  than  the  study  of  some  rhetorical  principles  and  practice,  and  of  grammatical 
rules,  which,  for  the  most  part,  are  not  adequate  to  the  composite  character  and  varied  idiom  of 
English  speech.  This  is  far  from  being  enough  to  give  the  needful  knowledge  of  what  is  the 
living  language,  both  of  our  English  literature  and  of  the  multiform  intercourse — oral  and  writ 
ten — of  our  daily  lives.  The  language  deserves  better  care  and  more  sedulous  culture  j  it  needs 
much  more  to  preserve  its  purity,  and  to  guide  the  progress  of  its  life.  The  young,  instead  of 
having  only  such  familiarity  with  their  native  speech  as  practice  without  method  or  theory  gives, 
should  be  so  taught  and  trained  as  to  acquire  a  habit  of  using  words— whether  with  the  voice  or 
the  pen — fitly  and  truly,  intelligently  and  conscientiously." 

"  For  such  training,  this  book,  it  is  believed,  will  prove  serviceable.  The  '  Practiced  Exer 
cises,'  attached  to  the  explanations  of  the  words,  are  conveniently  prepared  for  the  routine  of 
instruction.  The  value  of  a  course  of  this  kind,  regularly  and  carefully  completed,  will  be  more 
than  the  amount  of  information  gained  respecting  the  words  that  are  explained.  It  will  tend  to 
produce  a  thoughtful  and  accurate  use  of  language,  and  thus  may  be  acquired,  almost  uncon 
sciously,  that  which  is  not  only  a  critical  but  a  moral  habit  of  mind — the  habit  of  giving  utter 
ance  to  truth  in  simple,  clear  and  precise  terms—of  telling  one's  thoughts  and  feelings  in  words 
that  express  nothing  more  and  nothing  less.  It  is  thus  that  we  may  learn  how  to  escape  the 
evils  of  vagueness,  obscurity  and  perplexity — the  manifold  mischiefs  of  words  used  thought 
lessly  and  at  random,  or  words  used  in  ignorance  and  confusion. 

"  In  preparing  this  edition,  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  value  and  literary  interest  of  the  book 
might  be  increased  by  the  introduction  of  a  series  of  illustrative  authorities.  It  is  in  the  addi 
tion  of  these  authorities,  contained  within  brackets  under  each  title,  and  also  of  a  general  index 
to  facilitate  reference,  that  this  edition  differs  from  the  original  edition,  which  in  other  respects 
Is  exactly  reprinted.  I  have  confined  my  choice  of  authorities  to  poetical  quotations,  chiefly  be 
cause  it  is  in  poetry  that  language  is  found  in  its  highest  purity  and  perfection.  The  selections 
have  been  made  from  three  of  the  English  poets — each  a  great  authority,  and  each  belonging  to 
a  different  period,  so  that  in  this  way  some  historical  illustration  of  the  language  is  given  at 
tb*  same  time.  The  quotations  from  Shakspeare  (born  A.  D.  1564,  died  1616)  may  be  considered 
as  illustrating  the  use  of  the  words  at  the  close  of  the  16th  and  beginning  of  the  17th  century ; 
those  from  Milton  (born  1608.  died  1674)  the  succeeding  half  century,  or  middle  of  the  17ta 
eentury ;  and  those  from  Wordsworth  (born  1770)  the  contemporary  use  in  the  19th  century. 


iftoglfajl. 

A  DICTIONARY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE, 

CONTAINING     THE    PRONUNCIATION,    ETYMOLOGY,    AND     EXPLANATION    OP    ALL    WORDS     AU 
THORIZED   BY  EMINENT   WRITERS  ; 

To  which  are  added,  a  Vocabulary  of  the  Roots  of  English  Words,  and  an  Accented 
List  of  Greek,  Latin,  and  Scripture  Proper  Names 

BY  ALEXANDER  REID,  A.M., 
Rector  of  the  Circus  School,  Edinburgh. 

Whh  a  Critical  Preface,  by  HENRY  REED,  Professor  of  English  Literature  in  the  University  Of 

Pennsylvania,  and  an  Appendix,  showing  the  Pronunciation  of  nearly  3000  of 

the  most  important  Geographical  Names.    One  volume,  12mo. 

of  nearly  600  pages,  bound  in  Leather.    Price  $1- 

Among  the  wants  of  our  time  was  a  good  dictionary  of  our  own  language,  especially  adapted 
for  academies  and  schools.  The  books  which  have  long  been  in  use  were  of  little  value  to  the 
junior  students,  being  too  concise  in  the  definitions,  and  immethodical  in  the  arrangement 
Reid's  English  Dictionary  was  compiled  expressly  to  develop  the  precise  analogies  ana  various 
properties  of  the  authorized  words  in  general  use,  by  the  standard  authors  and  orators  who  use 
our  vernacular  tongue. 

Exclusive  of  the  large  number  of  proper  names  which  are  appended,  this  Dictionary  includes 
four  especial  improvements— and  when  their  essential  value  to  the  student  is  considered,  the 
sterling  character  of  the  work  as  a  hand-book  of  our  language  will  be  instantly  perceived. 

The  primitive  word  is  distinguished  by  a  larger  type ;  and  when  there  are  any  derivatives 
from  it,  they  follow  in  alphabetical  order,  and  the  part  of  speech  is  appended,  thus  furnishing  a 
complete  classification  of  all  the  connected  analogous  words  of  the  same  species. 

With  this  facility  to  comprehend  accurately  the  determinate  meaning  of  the  English  word,  is 
conjoined  a  rich  illustration  for  the  linguist.  The  derivation  of  all  the  primitive  words  is  dis 
tinctly  given,  and  the  phrases  of  the  languages  whence  they  are  deduced,  whether  composite  or 
eimple ;  so  that  the  student  of  foreign  languages,  both  ancient  and  modern,  by  a  reference  to 
any  word,  can  ascertain  the  source  whence  it  has  been  adopted  into  our  own  form  of  speech. 
This  is  a  great  acquisition  to  the  person  who  is  anxious  to  use  Vords  in  their  utmost  clearness 
of  meaning. 

To  these  advantages  is  subjoined  a  Vocabulary  of  the  Roots  of  English  Words,  which  is  of 
peculiar  value  to  the  collegian.  The  fifty  pages  which  it  includes,  furnish  the  linguist  with  a 
wide-spread  field  of  research,  equally  amusing  and  instructive.  There  is  also  added  an  Ac 
cented  List,  to  the  number  of  fifteen  thousand,  of  Greek,  Latin,  and  Scripture  Proper  Names. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

REID'S  Dictionary  of  the  English  Language  is  an  admirable  book  for  the  use  of  schools. 
Its  plans  combine  a  greater  number  of  desirable  conditions  for  such  a  work,  than  any  with 
which  I  am  acquainted:  and  it  seems  to  me  to  be  executed  in  general  with  great  judgment, 
fidelity,  and  accuracy.  C.  S.  HENRY, 

Professor  of  Philosophy,  History,  and  Belles  Lettres, 
in  the  University  of  the  City  of  New-  York. 

Reid's  Dictionary  of  the  English  Language  is  compiled  upon  sound  principles,  and  with 
judgment  and  accuracy.  It  has  the  merit,  too,  of  combining  much  more  than  is  usually  looked 
for  in  Dictionaries  of  small  size,  and  will,  I  believe,  be  found  excellent  as  a  convenient  manual, 
for  general  use  and  reference^and  also  for  various  purposes  of  education. 

HENRY  REED, 

Professor  of  English  Literature  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

After  a  careful  examination,  I  am  convinced  that  Reid's  English  Dictionary  has  strong 
claims  upon  the  attention  of  teachers  generally.  It  is  of  convenient  size,  beautifully  executed, 
and  seems  well  adapted  to  the  use  of  scholars,  from  the  common  school  to  the  university. 

D.  H.  CHASE, 

Principal  of  Preparatory  School. 

MlDDLETOWN,  Ct. 

After  a  thorough  examination  of"  Reid's  English  Dictionary,"  I  may  safely  say  that  I  con 
sider  it  superior  to  any  of  the  School  Dictionaries  with  which  I  am  acquainted.  Its  accurate 
and  concise  definitions,  and  a  vocabulary  of  the  roots  of  English  words,  drawn  from  an  author 
of  such  authority  as  Bosworth,  are  not  among  the  least  of  its  excellencies. 

M.  M.  PARKS, 
Chaplain  and  Professor  of  Ethics,  U.  S.  Military  Academy,  West  Point, 

15 


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